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Erin Burnett Outfront
Soon: First Debate Between Trump And Harris On CNN. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired September 10, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:39]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: In the must-win battleground of Pennsylvania, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are about to face off in their first and perhaps only debate.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's not going to debate. She doesn't want to debate.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you got something to say, say it to my face.
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, in Philadelphia, an unprecedented showdown and one of the most unpredictable presidential races in American history.
The former president testing out his attack lines.
TRUMP: She's not a good debater. She's not a smart person.
ANNOUNCER: As the vice president prepares to prosecute her case.
HARRIS: I know Donald Trump's type.
ANNOUNCER: The issues and the candidates take center stage less than two months before Election Day.
It's debate night in America and CNN's live coverage begins right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: It is a momentous night for America and the night is going to happen in Philadelphia, the birthplace of America, the backdrop for history-making presidential debate tonight. We are standing by to see Donald Trump and Kamala Harris onstage together, two candidates who have actually never met face-to-face before.
Soon, they will be together, just them, no audience, the very first time.
And welcome to all watching tonight. I'm Erin Burnett on this special edition of OUTFRONT. JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And I'm Jake Tapper in Philadelphia and we're overlooking historic Independence Hall. We're just steps away from the National Constitution Center where the Harris-Trump debate will begin in less than two hours.
You can see it live here on CNN. This will be the very first time a sitting vice president and a former president go head-to-head in a presidential debate.
Another extraordinary aspect of tonight's faceoff with comes only about two months since the Biden-Trump debate on CNN transformed the race. Our political team is out in force to set the stage for the 90- minute debate and to break down the strategies and the stakes for both the Trump and Harris campaigns.
First, let's go to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, also here in Philly, covering the Harris campaign.
And, Priscilla, you have some new information on how Vice President Harris is preparing to take on former President Trump.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jake. Sources are telling me tonight that Harris aides have been talking about how if at all, the vice president should be calling out former President Donald Trump's falsehoods. They are keenly aware that sometimes when President Biden did that in the last presidential debate, it didn't land.
And so, they have been aware and oftentimes, my conversations with them. They say they know that Trump can be a wild card and they anticipate that there will be falsehoods that he spews tonight. So these debate preparations has been focused on how the vice president navigates those moments, that she not get roped into those falsehoods, especially because those microphones are expected to be turned off when each candidate is speaking.
Instead, sources have wanted -- have told me that they want her to stay focused on the message and speak directly to the American people. And so, oftentimes, tonight, what we expect and what the vice president has been preparing for is coming back to what they call Paul her foundational message that she is focused on solutions -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez with the Harris campaign.
CNN's Kristen Holmes is also here in Philadelphia covering the Trump campaign.
And, Kristen, former President Trump arrived in Philly a short while ago. What are you hearing about his strategy and expectations this evening?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jake.
We actually just saw Donald Trump exit his plane in Philadelphia on the ground. We do expect him to come straight over to the debate hall to do his walk through all the debates stage almost any moment after he arrives, where his team has been preparing diligently for over a week.
Today, they spent the day measuring the podium, measuring the steps out there because remember to Donald Trump, the optics are just as important as the policy. And as they head over to that debate hall, his advisers and allies are expressing confidence. They told me they believe that Kamala Harris needs a slam dunk night, where all Donald Trump needs to do is stick to the issues.
[19:05:06]
But, of course, it's always a question with Donald Trump, whether or not he can stick to the issues. They have spent the last several weeks trying to prepare for this debate. Of course, they don't call it preparation, but they say that essentially everything Donald Trump does is a version of preparation, that means answering questions to the New York Economic Club, particularly questions on the economy.
When you talk about the issues, they want Donald Trump to be sticking to the economy is number one, followed by immigration and crime. They believe that these are the issues that will help him win in November.
But, of course, the big question is whether or not Donald Trump lets Kamala Harris get under his skin. There has been a lot of concern that he's going to have some kind of verbal reaction to form of personal attacks. He has been warned against that. They have told him that if he does anything to focus on facial expressions, not actually lashing out at her, but of course, it's Donald Trump, and we'll see which version of him arrives on the stage later tonight.
TAPPER: All right. Kristen Holmes covering the Trump campaign.
Erin?
BURNETT: All right, Jake.
So here we are, I don't know. Does everyone have sort of I don't know whether its butterflies or a fear in your stomach, but as we saw last time was the entire world changed, right? The whole world changed in an hour on that to actually, maybe in the first 12 minutes.
So it can be lost in a debate and here we are, John, its now tied on this and stakes couldn't be higher.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is as close as it can get. It is as close as 2016. It is his closest 2020. Some people go deep into the weeds and say it's even closer than that if that's possible.
But that's where we are. We are in a race that has got to be settled by six or seven states, probably by -- unless something breaks and there's a possibility things can break. They both have opportunities. They both have challenges.
But as we stand now, this looks like another race that will be settled by somewhere in the ballpark of 100,000, to 150,000 votes divided between three or four states. And those states are Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, maybe North Carolina, and Nevada, and Nebraska second congressional district could come into this as well. You can give it to those.
BURNETT: Oh, my lord, right?
KING: That's the world we live in now with these hypotheticals. Because it's so close, you have to explore and look under every rock and explore every hypothetical. I would say the vice president has a huge opportunity tonight in that she is the one person on this stage the American people still don't know a lot about, still say they have questions about.
And so, Donald Trump is a known entity. You could argue, given the Electoral College advantage for the Republicans, that if he has a good debate, he might come out of this, not in control of the race, but ahead in the race.
But she has a huge opportunity. There are a lot of people out there saying, I need to know more. I'm not comfortable with you as president and I'm worried about you on the economy.
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I mean, she's got a fantastic opportunity. I mean, she's exactly where she needs to be, a lot of people don't know her as well as we do and she's got a chance.
This is a job interview for her. This is not about Donald Trump. This is not about insult. This is not about nonsense. It's a job interview for her to look at the Kamala curious people out there, there are a bunch of Kamala curious folks, and tell them what she's going to do.
And I'm excited because I think when people hear from her, a lot of people are going to say this, this is this somebody who could be the commander in chief right now.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What you're saying is absolutely true.
I think this is her job interview, her night to further introduce herself to the American people. The thing is, and she's done a splendid job in the first five or six weeks, but she's been hitting off a team mostly at speeches and rallies off of a prompter.
And now, you know, just to use sports metaphors, I know he's a baseball fan, you know, she's going to get some high hard fastballs and some curveballs. And she's going to have a guy next to her who is basically an asymmetric battler who doesn't care about rules and will say or do anything. And so keeping on that message and not letting him dominate the debate is going to be a challenge.
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, but so what is -- I heard Priscilla Alvarez and you guys talk about, you know, she's doing a great job. She could return to her foundational message.
I'm not sure Americans know what that is, because we heard Kamala Harris speak during 2019 and 2020. We heard her speak her own words. We saw your interview with Kaczynski and the KFILE about her fill out the forms of ACLU.
We know her positions, what they were before. I'm not sure Americans know what her positions are today and I think unless -- and I think if she is in the biggest interview, job interview of her life.
JONES: Yeah.
URBAN: That she -- that Americans deserve to hear what those positions are. Do you still believe -- do you still believe in reparations? Do you do you believe in gun confiscation? Walk through them all.
AXELROD: Let me ask you something, doesn't it apply both ways to -- in this campaign.
URBAN: But people know Donald Trump.
AXELROD: In this campaign, Donald Trump said, I want to abolish the Affordable Care Act again.
So, should he not be held to that?
(CROSSTALK)
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is why this is such a unique opportunity for the vice president. We -- even if we get the best behaved Donald Trump, we still know what that Donald Trump looks like, right?
If Kamala Harris shows up and the person that we know, Van and myself know that she can be, right now, people are curious and curiosity is a great place to be as a candidate because that means voters are actually listening.
[19:10:04]
So, tonight, if she actually gives a clear message, they may align. They are going to look to the back, to the past like Donald Trump is going to try and do when you relitigate different things. They're going to say, what are you -- what is your position today and how are we going to move those?
URBAN: Yeah, but those are his positions. We know those are our ticket. Let her explain them.
(CROSSTALK)
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Think about with Biden. Biden did not do the work of pushing Trump on those things. And in the end, Biden was defined by it.
I don't think Trump is going to have the same person standing across from them as he did --
URBAN: Well, clearly not.
CORNISH: Yes. But what you're saying, what about this? What about that? Well, that's Donald Trumps point to make tonight. And they're both incumbent adjacent, right?
He has record. Everyone knows who he is.
URBAN: Everybody knows.
CORNISH: But she also is in the administration. So people are like, are you really bad different? There are two people trying to convince the country they're agents of change. And it's not clear that that's what were looking at.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But the key number is in this "New York Times"/Siena poll, 28 percent of voters say they want to know more about what Kamala Harris has for. So it's about her as a person, but also her policies.
So I would argue she has the most to lose tonight, but also the most again, you know what you're getting with Donald Trump. There are a lot of folks out there were like, I don't like the character of Donald Trump, but I'm kind of okay with the policies. She's going to need to show up and articulate that she understands peoples hardships and she has a vision that is distinct from Joe Biden's on how to fix those.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think -- I think we're all going to have a collective case of asphyxiation tonight. I mean, Republicans are holding their breath to see how -- I mean, we're waiting to see if he's going to -- if he's going to ask her if she's got a favorite cat recipe. And Democrats are holding their breath to see if she can string two or three coherent sentences together.
I mean, Trump never wins things.
AXELROD: If that's the test, I think she'll do okay.
JENNINGS: Six debates, the five times the snap polls said he didn't win. One time, he did win and his opponent had to leave the race.
I think all the pressure is on Harris it's a change election. The polling is clear. Trump is seen as the change agent in this election. And she's not and she's going to have a very difficult time arguing that keeping the same people in charge would lead to any change.
So to me, the pressure is on her to find a way to thread that very small --
BURNETT: You know, hold on, on change. I don't know how people define change because now, Jason, I don't know about the poll that we had today is 52 percent of adults think she represents change, 47 percent him. I mean, I don't know, but in other words, it's not what you just said if you believe that poll.
AXELROD: It's how you ask the question.
BURNETT: Yes.
JENNINGS: I'm just reading "The New York Times". ALLISON: Here's the thing, in 2022, everybody said they didn't like the direction the country was going and people interpreted that, meaning they didn't like the country under Democratic rule. And so they assume there would be a red wave and it never manifested because the question was not phrased in a way to actually get to the nuance of how people were experiencing life.
JONES: I think that's right. And also, she's got to get a chance to talk about the change that he represents is terrible.
Even on the -- even on the economic stuff, it's all pro-inflation stuff, tariffs. He wants tariffs, which means Americans got to pay more. He wants to roll back all advances on prescription drugs. So you got to pay more for drugs. He wants to deport all the good workers.
Everything he is pro inflation. So she's got a chance to show his change is terrible.
BURNETT: All right. Well, we hit pause there, there's -- okay, I get it.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: The beauty of it is, you will be here all night. I will not.
All right. Stay with us. There's a lot to unpack as we get closer to the debate.
Up next, will the candidates play by the rules? So we're going to look at the controversy surrounding the terms that they've agreed to.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:35]
TAPPER: And we're back live in Philadelphia at a pivotal moment in a presidential race that has defied expectations and all historical precedent. Were standing by for the high-stakes showdown between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Right now, we want to break down the rules of tonight's debate and how those rules could theoretically shape what the candidates say and do on stage tonight.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in the debate spin room.
Jeff, walk us through the rules that Harris and Trump have to have agreed to abide by.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, these rules have been heavily litigated by both campaigns really, for weeks, but they are going to be like this.
This debate is 90 minutes long and there is no audience at the debate. That is something that both candidates agreed to. There are no props, there are no briefing papers, and there are no opening statements from either side.
There are closing statements, however because of a flip of the coin earlier this week, Donald Trump will get the final word here. But because of that, vice president Harris is choosing her side of the stage. She'll be standing on the right hand aside of the stage, but we are also getting a first look at some of the video from inside what this debate hall is going to look like.
These podiums as you can see right here, they are six feet apart, very, very close. So for the first ever face-to-face encounter, they are going to be very close. We are also getting a look at the clocks. These two-minute clocks are an indication of how long each candidate can answer and then give a rebuttal. So not much time there to get through so many issues, of course, then also the microphones, perhaps these microphones we the most important thing of all.
The candidates finally agreed to the muting of the microphone when the rival is speaking. So theoretically, the only microphone and that will be on when the candidate is speaking. But Jake, as you said, we are here in the spin room and take a look at this. This is going to be really one of the biggest moments of the campaign. Senator J.D. Vance is going to be in here for this debate. Governor Gavin Newsom of California also will be in here spinning both sides of this case, of course.
What happens on the stage stays on the stage, but then it comes here in the spin room. You can see that the media, of course, has gathered from around the world. It is a global audience here.
But Jake, perhaps the most important audience of all, is right here in Pennsylvania. This is still the biggest swing state of all.
[19:20:01]
And the voters here are certainly watching it -- Jake.
TAPPER: Fascinating stuff. Thanks so much, Jeff Zeleny.
Let's talk about this in my panel. But before I do that, can we get the -- can we see that two-minute clock again? Is there any way we could we could call that up I just want to look because I for one second for the two-minute clock for that -- look at that.
Now, let me ask you, Dana and Kaitlan, would is -- that fair to call that brat green with that?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's 100 percent brat green.
TAPPER: Is that Charli XCX's brat green?
BASH: Yes, it is.
TAPPER: It looks it. I don't know if --
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: You've come a long way. BASH: I know. I am so proud. I think he's grown up.
TAPPER: Thank you. I appreciate. I appreciate it.
So they have been really litigating this idea of microphones being muted for several weeks. It is -- those are the rules that Trump and Biden had agreed to and Harris was trying to get them to change it. They did not change it. The mics are going to be muted if it's not your turn to speak.
Does -- does that help one side or the other? Obviously, Harris didn't want them muted.
BASH: Well, I believe that both the Trump campaign and the Harris campaign say flatly that they think it helps Donald Trump. And they're saying that because of the lesson from our debate on June 27. And, of course, at the time, this was a new rule and it was done at the initially at the request of the Biden campaign because they didn't want Donald Trump to be interrupting a Joe Biden all the time.
And it turned out that after that debate was over, it was pretty clear that those -- that the muted mics gave down Trump guardrails and he couldn't interrupt and he knew that he couldn't interrupt, which is why the Harris campaign fight really hard to change that. They didn't want the muted mics because they wanted him to be kind of unfiltered and they wanted him to have the ability to do whatever he was going to do or say whatever he was going to say while Kamala Harris was speaking, so they could have some interaction and it's going to be very hard for that to happen.
TAPPER: Speaking of wishing that we had a desire to mute things just so you know, right behind, the public -- the people have assembled there are celebrating their Bill of Rights-given ability to be loud and voice their free speech and --
BASH: The City of Brotherly Love.
TAPPER: And we're getting what we pay for free speech.
Kaitlan, do you think this definitely helps Donald Trump, the idea that he will not be interrupting the way he did in that first debate that Chris moderated about four years ago.
COLLINS: Maybe Chris is scarred by that, Trump is certainly still scarred by that and how his performance was. He thought he did well in that debate and then he came off stage and saw the faces of his advisors who were like, it did not go well. So he's very wary of being too aggressive and how he was towards Joe Biden in that debate.
I will say within two minutes, the other reason that Trump campaign is hoping it will help him is that as they've been rehearsing, you know, he knows what that -- what that kind of clock is like. He did it with you-alls debate where he has the time to answer the question, but also pushed back on Harris and kind of pivot to what his argument is, either against her or what he would do it and what I've heard though from his advisers have been talking to him in recent days as they've said, don't underestimate vice president Harris because in his its brain and the way he talks about her, he often insults her intelligence and says he doesn't think she's very competent.
He'll contrast, say Hillary Clinton, while he did not like her was a brilliant debater he thought. But his allies have they been watching her Senate hearings? They've watched her past debate performances in the Democratic primaries, and they've warned him that she can be a tough questioner.
And so, that is what they're looking for. They're hoping that the two minutes will be like it was for Biden where he often did not use all of the time and kind of trailed off. And as both of you reminded him, often at, he had 30 more seconds or 45 more seconds. That's, of course, something the Harris campaign is acutely aware.
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN HOST, "THE CHRIS WALLACE SHOW": But, Jake, I would argue that the muted mics really prevent this from being a true debate. In the 2020 debate that I did, obviously, Trump day now admit was kind of out of his mind and interrupted 145 times in 90 minutes? Not that I'm counting.
But the fact is, even in that debate, there were some great exchanges wouldn't Trump kept interrupting and Biden's, will you shut up, man?
At one point, I said, would you tell your right wing supporters, white supremacist supporters, would you disavowed them? And he said like who? And Biden said like the Proud Boys. And Trump said, Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.
The problem now with these muted mics, is it really isn't a debate where those interaction there, almost like simultaneous news conference as you get two minutes to answer, you get two minutes to answer, but you don't get the interaction which has been some of the most memorable moments in the debates since Nixon and Kennedy back in 1960.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think that that's exactly right. I mean, ultimately, that's also part of what the Harris campaign is looking at, too. They want the ability for her to kind create a moment potentially with Trump.
[19:25:03]
One of the things coming out of your debate that you and Dana moderating was that the complaints almost instantaneously that I was hearing from Biden advisors about all -- the sort of waterfall of falsehoods coming from Trump and Biden's unwillingness, inability to do both to his actually skill level in that debate and also the rules. He couldn't even begin to stop it -- to stop them.
And I think muted microphones make that job a little bit harder and also raise the bar for what happens when it is her term because then she's got to spend the first 30 seconds, 45 seconds rebutting. And that really eats up a lot of that time.
TAPPER: So in other words, its not just that she doesn't want Donald Trump restrained by the microphone rules. She wants he ability to interrupt herself, Kamala Harris, to say that's not true. That's a lie as opposed to wait a minute.
PHILLIP: I think that's what Chris is saying is that that is sometimes how these moments our made is when you simply just point out that's not true and you don't have to say a whole lot in order for that to suddenly change the dynamic but they themselves are not.
COLLINS: Right, their mics are muted, but they themselves are not. So we may not be able to hear. But if one and then those interjecting, it can also be distracting or potentially could work to get under his skin if she is --
WALLACE: That's really hard to do because they're going to be split screens and, you know, even if you can't hear, for instance, Trump if you see that he's talking while its heard two minutes and she's talking and there is going to be a pool of independent reporters in the room, that'll get reported.
I suspect that Trump and his people want to play by the rules and to keep quiet because they know that plays very much to their advantage. It gives him discipline that he might not have themselves.
BASH: Two different things, Trump and his people. Yes, his people want him to play the rules.
WALLACE: I understand.
BASH: He's going in to play by their rules. You know better than anybody.
WALLACE: He did play by the rules in your debate.
TAPPER: He did pretty much.
BASH: He did because -- well, he also took his foot off the gas when he saw what was happening.
TAPPER: I will say that the most famous rebuttal or at least one of the most famous rebuttals in history was Ronald Reagan responding to Walter Mondale in '84 and he waited for, like it was waited for his turn, he didn't interrupt to say, there you go again.
PHILLIP: I think though times are different.
TAPPER: Times are different, but I'm just saying, if you have a good zinger, you have a good zinger whether you've waited two minutes or not.
PHILLIP: And I think that perhaps that's more Kamala Harris's style anyway but we'll see.
TAPPER: We'll see.
There's much more ahead as we close in on tonight's debate and lay out the stakes for Vice President Harris and former President Trump. Straight ahead, Republican senator and Trump supporter, Marco Rubio, is going to join us live.
Debate night in America continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:44]
TAPPER: Here in Philadelphia, Donald Trump's walkthrough of the debate stage is currently underway. We're counting down to his historic face- off with Vice President Kamala Harris that could potentially tilt the balance of what has been in recent weeks, a razor close presidential race. And you're going to see it all play out live on CNN.
Joining us now here in Philadelphia is Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, supporter of President Trump.
Senator Rubio, you've been on the debate stage with Donald Trump, you know, firsthand how things can turn personal and nasty. What's your advice to President Trump tonight? Should he stay on policy? Focus on policy or as he says, do it my way on the debate stage?
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Well, I think doing it his way, but his way is going to be different in every debate. It depends on the direction that debate goes. You know, he's I think because probably natural to him in instinctive, but also because of years of being on television and being in front of the camera, I think he's got a real good feel for how the audience is viewing an event, how the audience is viewing the presentation.
I think that was a big advantage to him in 2016 as well. And so -- that's why I think he should trust that, and obviously they're going to be specific for policy questions and things of that nature. And I know he's put in the time.
But, you know, I think one of things that really helps him as he does a lot of interviews. He answers a lot of questions. Kamala Harris doesn't. I don't believe she's had a single solo interview since she became the nominee. And she won't have no cards and she won't have a teleprompter tonight.
So I think a lot of people are going to be tuning in to watch that, particularly those of us who have been followers of this process and of her career having served with her in the Senate and having watched her as vice president, is whether she's going to be able to actually speak authentically without the benefit of notes and talking points.
TAPPER: A source tells CNN that former President Trump is being advised to not respond if Kamala Harris gets under his skin. Do you think hell be able to do that? It can be tough, of course.
RUBIO: -- that in the past. Look, there's been some pretty brutal things said about Donald Trump in debates and interviews. And he responds differently depending on the circumstances now setting.
I'm not -- I'm not worried about the performative part of this because he's I think naturally gifted communicator in that regard. I think the important thing we're going to -- the other important issues facing this country, in our economy continues with stubborn inflation. People are -- just can't afford the cost of living, which in some key sectors keeps going up. I think the mortgage rates are the highest it's been in a quarter-century, our border is, and we're seeing the impact of uncontrolled immigration into our country.
And, obviously, there's a lot going on around the world that's very dangerous and troubling. So these are real issues beyond all the performative in the theater aspect of a debate. And there's some aspect of it. But those are the things that people are going to hear about Kamala Harris is basically been reluctant to even discuss policy issues.
I think she just put up something on a website two days ago, which largely was cut and paste out of the Biden campaigns website, and has changed their position. I mean, dramatically and radically change their position from what she stood for in 2019 and 2020, just four short years ago when she was running for president herself, the first time.
So I think that's going to be a real good point of contention on a comparison on the important issues facing our country.
[19:35:00]
And that's a debate Americans deserve. This is an important election. They all are, but this was really important.
TAPPER: Suburban women and women in general are going to be key voters. Both candidates are trying to target this evening, Donald Trump has been out there trying to it seems in some -- in some instances, moderate his message on abortion, talking about how he does not support a national ban. He recently gave mixed signals on the six- week abortion ban in your home state of Florida. And he got some blowback from anti-abortion conservatives.
What do you think he should be doing when it comes to the issue of abortion? Should he be just proudly saying that because the justices he appointed, Roe v. Wade was overturned? Should it be trying to sound more moderate on the issue?
RUBIO: Well, look, this because obviously a contentious issue. It's also a very personal issue to people.
I have very strong views about it. They may not totally align with somebody else's views on it. He's the most pro-life candidate in this race. Now I think his position as he described it, as he does want to federalize abortion law. He wants it to be decided at the state level through elected legislators. Voters get to decide it through them.
The ones that want to federalize abortion practices in this country is Kamala Harris, who basically wants to pass a federal bill that in essence, though they'll never admit this, will allow abortion almost for any reason at any the time paid for by taxpayers.
So I do think there's a point of contrast there. He wants to leave it to voters at the states through their legislators to decide what the law should be in their state. And she wants to federalize it.
But I think on his views and so forth, I don't think it's about moderating. I think he's describing an aspect of what federal governments role should and should not be on an issue like this. And saying, I trust the people of the states through their elected representatives to decide how they want this to be regulated at the state level.
TAPPER: Vice Presidential nominee, J.D. Vance, said yesterday that if he were the vice president in 2020, he would've asked the states to submit alternate slates of electors. You voted to certify the 2020 election. If the issue of the 2020 election comes up during the debate this evening, and I suspect it will, how should President Trump handle it?
RUBIO: Well, I think its very clear that in a number of states who had never done mail-in balloting, who had never know anything else, used COVID to basically take off all kinds restrictions and not even apply their own laws. And we know this after the fact in states like Wisconsin and others.
Now some states ran great -- look, I'm very proud of the way Florida runs elections. We haven't always had great elections in Florida, but in recent years, you've seen how the reforms we've made and how applying our laws have led to that. About half of what's most important about these elections, obviously, the vote count is important that it be accurate, but also public confidence. And when people are citing instances of where laws are not being followed are certain things are being allowed that maybe should not have allowed because it violates your own laws.
Or you have state entering into consent decrees to ignore their own laws without legislative input, it's going to create all kinds of questions. And I think in a number of states, this happened.
It happened in this date. It happened in Wisconsin. It happened in Arizona and even somewhat in Georgia.
So I think he should be pretty clear, but when he talks about the interference in -- I think one the main points that he points to about 2020 is very damaging information about Joe Biden and his son was censured from -- kept from the American public for something that we know to be true, people flat-out would not cover or misrepresented what the laptop meant.
That was information Americans should have asked us to before voting, and they didn't and he views that as clear interference by a handful of people, including 50 something former intelligence officers or officials who signed the letter, saying something that turned out not to be true but somehow that that laptop was fake and it was actually a product of Russian disinformation.
So I think he should point to those things. Those are valid things to talk about that happened in 2020 some of those things under the cover, an excuse of COVID, using COVID as an excuse to allow anyone to vote anyway, they wanted. TAPPER: Well, obviously, for the record I mean, it wasn't the case that anyone who wanted to vote could vote anywhere in the attorney general, Bill Barr said that there wasn't enough widespread fraud to have changed the course of the election.
Senator Marco Rubio, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Still ahead --
(CROSSTALK)
RUBIO: It's not about fraud. This about --
TAPPER: Yeah, go ahead.
RUBIO: No, no, I say this is not just about fraud, this about the way elections are conducted. And having dropped in boxes in places like Wisconsin, votes that were counted that should not have been done because they were not done according to the law. These are the kinds of things you talk about.
That doesn't mean fraud, that means they didn't follow the law. And that undermines public confidence and open since the door in a close election for a losing side to point to those things and undermine public confidence in the elections.
[19:40:01]
That's why it's so important than elections being done in a way in which the laws are followed transparently and clearly.
TAPPER: Still ahead -- thank you so much, Senator Marco Rubio. Really appreciate it.
Still ahead, how Donald Trump and Kamala Harris differ in debate styles and experience. It's all leading up to their onstage showdown, which is less than 90 minutes away. Our live coverage from Philadelphia continues after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Philadelphia, the center of the political universe right now in America, as the city hosts for the first debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, both getting ready to make there the case to voters especially voters in the battleground states that matter so much like Pennsylvania, where, of course, they are tonight.
So let's go to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez covering the Harris campaign.
So, Priscilla, you've been talking to your sources in the campaign. How has the vice president spent these final hours before for the first time, she is face-to-face with Donald Trump?
ALVAREZ: Well, Erin, one source telling me that she has been reviewing issues and themes that she might want to hit it on the debate stage tonight, but also reviewing possible debate scenarios. And so far, allies and aides are feeling pretty good saying that she is very prepared to go toe to toe so against former President Donald Trump.
[19:45:08]
Now, of course, President Joe Biden also weighed in on this earlier today, telling reporters that he also spoke with the vice president and that in that conversation, she appeared, quote, calm, cool, and collected. Of course, the vice president has been hunkered down on in debate camp in Pittsburgh over the last several days. Now, heading here or already here in Philadelphia where she again has been reviewing those last-minute issues -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Priscilla, thank you very much.
And obviously, you know, its interesting. Priscilla, Audie, talking about how the vice president been preparing, and she's been in Pennsylvania.
Of course Trump, we saw just got off the plane, whatever 6:36:45 local. So a couple hours before, lands, goes in. Totally different ways of preparing in these final moments.
CORNISH: Well, I think more broadly also there's way more game tape of Trumps, so to speak. I mean, he's done upwards of seven debates. He doesn't have as much to look at to see how was she performs and what that will mean.
The only other thing id bring up is that, you know, we've -- we don't -- we have a very small sample size, but we know we do judge women on their tone, tenor, whether they interrupt and ironically, this will be erased where this will be a debate where people will ask that about Trump.
How does he behave? How does he interrupt? Because that is actually a sore point for him, but particularly with women.
AXELROD: A couple of things. One is what -- it seems to me given what we said earlier about what her -- what her requirements are here, that she needs to stick and go back to the cameras, sticking so use him and push off of him and then go back and not get into long engagement.
But just -- just on the -- there's a stark difference between -- he's sort of a improvisational player. She is -- she's a classical musician, right? She's going to go over that.
She's got sheet music and she's knows what the play she's going to run. And the question is, can does it work out here?
JENNINGS: I agree with you. He's a free wheeler. He's reacting in the moment, you know? There's not a lot of canned stuff that I think he's trying to deliver.
When I think about her style over the last several debates, going all the way back to the Democratic primary before, it -- a lot of it is contrived. Remember, she had the contrived moment against Biden where she wanted to imply --
BURNETT: That little girl is me.
JENNINGS: Imply that he was a racist.
BURNETT: And the t-shirts were for sale the second after. Yes.
JENNINGS: Exactly. Then we go to Mike -- then we go to the mat -- maybe more than that. Then we go to the Mike Pence debate. I'm speaking, I'm speaking, even though he wasn't speaking, you know, she had that contrived moment.
ALLISON: She was.
JONES: She kind of was.
JENNINGS: And so I feel like they are likely to bring some contrived item in here too. Tonight the question is, does it land? I always find these things to be totally artificial, superficial, and we'll see if it works tonight, but I bet you she does.
JONES: But what you call contrived, we call being prepared like --
JENNINGS: It's how you deliver it. Doesn't look like its contrived, it will look natural.
JONES: Well, I look I think the big opportunity for her people think about her as a prosecutor and they think, oh, she's going to get there and kind prosecute the case.
It's not the same. When you're in a courtroom or you're a senator, you're able to just like nail somebody down. It's a different thing. You can be all attack.
The debate, you've got to be attacked, defend, and counter attack. She's been good that sometimes and not good at sometimes. So tonight you're going to get a chance to see did this preparation prepare her to do the set pieces, but also to be able to respond
ALLISON: I want to see Senate Judiciary Kamala Harris.
JONES: Yeah.
ALLISON: I wanted to see her be able to understand what -- I don't know when she Bill Barr -- question Bill Barr really hard.
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: Jeff Sessions, you know, those are because -- because it is somewhat scripted, which look, lets just be honest, if your candidate is going up unscripted, which is a big risk for your guy tonight. If he goes off script, we don't know.
JENNINGS: That's why they love and there is no script.
ALLISON: If she if she is able to stick to her script, but also get some zingers in there. That's the Kamala that people like.
BURNETT: So, Alyssa, can we talk about what we've all been talking about sort of when we weren't on camera, which is about the set.
AXELROD: We can talk about that.
BURNETT: Some parts of that, this set, we don't know if they're going to brighten up the lighting here, not right. But I mean, you've got podium comes of different heights and so when they are interacting with each other, even if they're only showing a split-screen there is the reality of how it feels when, you know, its like you're in, we were saying sort of an amusement park where your tables lot lower than someone else's table. This affects them.
GRIFFIN: Yeah, and what strikes me is also how close the podiums are. There's extensive negotiations around these ahead of debates. They've of course, never been in a room like this together other than the State of the Union with hundreds of other people. And there's nothing really organic about standing at a podium with two moderators in your arch nemesis next to you, and you have to do it and try to have charisma, try to speak directly to the audience at home watching.
But I'm fascinated on how Trump is going to match tonight just really quickly. This is somebody who has been less sun, less discipline this campaign.
[19:50:01]
It's not the candidate of 2016, its not even the candidate of 2020. The Biden debate. Biden was so bad, we forget how bad Donald Trump was.
He has about 15 minute window of focus on issues. And then it goes downhill and it's his golf handicap and other things.
So if she can stay on the issues and he goes off the rails, it could be a good night.
URBAN: Listen, I --
AXELROD: I'm sorry, David.
URBAN: I'm just going to say, listen, this is to go to your sports analogy way back again anymore. This the Super Bowl, right? Right. If you haven't been to the Super Bowl, you haven't been to the super bowl, you may have been the playoffs a bunch, being the vice president, you're the playoffs.
Donald Trump's the Tom Brady of these debates, he's been about ten of them. You're going down the drain point.
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: My point is he's been -- he's done this before. A lot of time, no matter how prepared you are, Axe, knows this, you're out there. You're not experienced matters here.
KING: Look, the Biden Trump debate. They went into that debate essentially tied to change the course of this year, changed the course of history. They go into this debate essentially tied. Will it? Those requests.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Ninety minutes and then it wasn't even 90 minutes and where that happened, it would argue it was in the first 12.
KING: Brady's to go there.
BURNETT: They are playing the music on us.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Still ahead, we're going to hear from some of the most important debate watchers tonight, our focus group of Pennsylvania voters, ready to weigh in.
You're watching debate night in America live on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: We're live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the crucial battlegrounds in the 2024 election. Philadelphia is about to host a very important presidential debate featuring Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. They're very first face-to- face showdown. In fact, it's the very first time these two will have ever met.
We're going to get real-time reaction to the debate from voters in Pennsylvania.
CNN's Phil Mattingly is with our focus group in the great burgh of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Phil, tell us more about who's with you and how they're going to be watching the debate tonight.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake, we're here on the campus of Mercenaries University in Erie, Pennsylvania, and you talk about how important the keystone state is for either candidates' path to 270 electoral votes was fairly no more important county than Erie County. It's a county that was won by Barack Obama, then won by Donald Trump by just 1,800 votes in 2016.
[19:55:06]
Joe Biden flipped it back by about 1,500 votes in 2020. This is a battleground county in the most important of battleground states. That's why were here and that's why the people behind me are so critical.
These are voters who have not made up their minds yet. Now, they have supported Democrats and Republicans in the past. Some of them have supported President Biden or former President Trump in the past. But they tell us they have not made up their minds as of this moment.
So they will be watching the debate with us. Each of them will have a dial. We'll be able to track that dial throughout the course of the debate. If they turn it to the right, it means they're positive about whatever is being said or talked about on stage.
But it turns to the left, they're not feeling as good about whatever is being said. So, we'll track that throughout, see how people are feeling about specific moments and go back through those moments with them.
But before we really kick things off, before the debate actually starts itself, I want to get a sense from people, just show of hands.
This debate, you have not made up your mind yet. Some are leaning one way or the other. How many of you feel like this debate will be determinative for who you vote for in November? Raise your hands.
Michelle, I want to go to you. Why? Explain what you're looking for tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm looking for -- my important thing is because I'm a grandmother and a mother and I really concerned about the economy that is where my big issues lie. And I would like to see where they both stand as far as supporting the economy and especially jobs and the way the cost of living has increased in even like housing, the housing market.
So there's just so many things that I worry about for my children and for my grandchildren. Lauren.
MATTINGLY: Now, as you all weigh this decision, this critical decision for the 2024 elections, how many feel like you need to know more specifically about Vice President Harris, given her relatively new role as the Democratic candidate. Show of hands.
So, Jake, you see there are a lot of people whose decisions are very much up in the air, maybe leaning one way or the other at this point in time. But they want to know what the candidates have to say tonight, and they'd make very clear, you saw with a show of hands their decisions may be based on what they hear over the course of that debate, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Thanks. Phil Mattingly, really appreciate it.
CNN special coverage of the Harris Trump presidential debate continues right now.
(MUSIC)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Tonight, the Road to the White House is leading through Philadelphia, a crucial 2024 battleground state of Pennsylvania.
We're standing by the start of the first and possibly only presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. It is debate night in America on this special edition of "AC360".
Good evening. I'm Anderson Cooper, along with Jake Tapper in Philadelphia.
Jake, both candidates are open to move the needle tonight and they're very close. And obviously incredibly consequential presidential race.
TAPPER: That's right, Anderson. This could prove to be the most significant test for both Vice President Harris and former President Trump in this final sprint to election day.
Millions of Americans are expected to be watching, tens of millions when they walked onto the stage at the national constitution center here in the great city of Philadelphia, about an hour from now. Our anchors, our correspondents, our analysts are here covering the strategies and the expectation as we get closer to this high-stakes debate that you will see live right here on CNN -- Anderson.
COOPER: I want to check in first with CNN's Kristen Holmes covering the Trump campaign.
So let's talk about how the former president has been spending his time as he gets closer to this debate.
HOLMES: Yeah, Anderson. Well, if you're curious how he's spent the last few hours, you can look no further than Truth Social. Just as he was landing in Philadelphia, he was posting on his social media platform, not about the importance of the evening or the critical nature of this debate, but instead, A.I. cat memes.
Now, this of course comes as Donald Trump's campaign and other prominent Republicans have been pushing a false rumor about Haitian immigrants eating pets.
Now, one of the biggest most vocal prepares perpetrators of this rumor it is none other than far-right activists Laura Loomer, who was spotted getting off of Donald Trumps plane with Donald Trump and other Trump staffers tonight in Philadelphia. They flew up from his Mar-a- Lago home.
Now, you can see these memes in front of you. They one of them is him surrounded by ducks and cats. It seems to be on his plane. Another one appears to be a cat in a MAGA hat holding a gun. Now, just to be very clear, even earlier today, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance acknowledged that these rumors that Haitian immigrants were kidnapping pets in Springfield, Ohio, might not be true, but still encouraged people to post these various cat memes.
The city of Springfield has said, essentially, there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed. So, just to make all of that very clear.
But this is what Donald Trump was doing in the moments that he got to Philadelphia while likely we would expect him to be instead preparing for this debate.
