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CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Election Night In America Continued. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired November 06, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:54]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, and good evening. The next chapter begins after Donald J. Trump decisively becomes the president-elect again. This is CNN's special coverage of "Election Night in America Continued".
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: At this hour, Republicans have now gained control of the White House, the Senate, with only the House still in flux. President Biden spoke with President-elect Trump this afternoon. He's planning to address the nation tomorrow and earlier this evening, Vice President Harris spoke to supporters in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You have the capacity to do extraordinary good in the world. And so to everyone who is watching, do not despair. This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves. This is a time to organize, to mobilize, and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: A lot to get to. Let's start with CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who is covering the vice president. I just want to play another portion of what the vice president said tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I am so proud of the race we ran and the way we ran it, and the way we ran it. Over the 107 days of this campaign. We have been intentional about building community and building coalitions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Priscilla, obviously, this was a historically short campaign. What are you -- what are you hearing from staffers on the campaign tonight about what happened?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, sources I've been speaking that they thought. It was, quote, pitch perfect but also, Anderson, many have told me that it was also heartbreaking.
This was a campaign that, yes, was truncated, but also in the final hours of the election, there was a sense of optimism and confidence about where the race was headed. And then hours into the night, it became clear that the vice president did not have the support that they believed they had, and that is what they have been contending with over the course of the day. Anderson, a lot of people just going dark over the course of the day and then resurfacing and just describing the gut punch that they feel that the vice president has lost.
And part of this also includes finger pointing. Of course, there were strategies that were deployed by the Harris campaign that included, for example, trying to reach those disaffected Republicans, Republicans that they thought were fatigued by former president Donald Trump and trying to bring them over to their side. And in some of the counties where they tried to do that with the vice president and her vice presidential nominee going to those counties, they still overwhelmingly voted for former President Donald Trump.
There was also an argument that there was not enough done to lock in their base and their coalition, but the vice president in her remarks, this afternoon, tried to strike the balance between gratitude, and there was a somber tone to that, but also trying to be uplifting. What became clear and what the vice president intentionally wanted to do with these remarks was to tell supporters to respect the outcome of this election, she said, quote, they must accept the results of this election. And then she committed to what she called a peaceful transfer of power, of course, something that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were not afforded when former president Donald Trump left the White House back in 2021.
But certainly, the vice president here trying to chart a way forward and asking her supporters to continue the fight that she talked about repeatedly on the campaign trail, for example, on reproductive freedom. So we'll see where this goes from here, and how the vice president continues the fight that she was talking about over the course of those brief remarks at her alma mater of Howard University today.
But there is no doubt, Anderson, that several hours in now, the campaign is still grappling with this loss and trying to sort what happened.
[19:05:05]
I will say, though, senior campaign officials really also telling their own staff and emails and in calls that they put everything out on the table and they do feel as though they did try their best effort. It just did not lead to a victory that they believed could be possible. Just 24 hours ago.
COOPER: Priscilla Alvarez, thanks very much.
I want to go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Kristen Holmes near Mar-a- Lago.
Kaitlan, President Biden, President-elect Trump, so they are set to meet pretty soon. A transition meeting that did not happen, obviously in 2020. It's fascinating, the different mindset obviously, that the former president now has on this.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, fascinating, but not exactly surprising, Anderson.
It's a meeting that was supposed to happen four years ago. And of course, now is expected to happen this time. But with the reversals of the fortunes, instead of Biden being the incoming president, Trump will be the incoming president.
But we are hearing from Trump's team he has accepted the offer that was extended by President Biden during that phone call today to have the two of them meet. We are told it will happen in short order. Obviously, we'll be watching that closely if Donald Trump does go to Washington to meet with him. We don't exactly see, you know, envision President Biden coming down to Palm Beach to do the reverse.
But that moment in and of itself, just speaks to the way the dynamics have shifted four years later.
And, Kristen, looking at this, if Trump does go to Washington to meet with Biden at the White House, one, it's a moment we did not see in 2020. I was there that day of Biden's inauguration, and Trump instead got on Marine One, then Air Force One, and flew here to Palm Beach, and, you know lived a very different life, obviously. But having that meeting happening in Washington, where when Trump does go back there in January, when he is inaugurated, it is going to be so different than when he entered in 2016 or even when he left in 2020 in terms of the balance of power, especially in the Senate.
I mean, you look at the Republicans in the Senate right now, it is such a different world than it was before in terms of either being obstacles, as the White House often saw them, or as guardrails and stabilizing forces as critics of the White House saw them.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, we've talked about this for the last six years, but I think it has never been more true than in this moment that the Republican Party is Trump's party. And when he shows up in January of 2025, he will be essentially going to a homecoming, and he will have control of the House. He will have control of the Senate, and he will be in the White House.
And the real thing to focus on is what we were talking about which it comes down to the Senate. I mean, he still did not have support of so many senators when he entered Washington in 2017. Marco Rubio, for example -- I mean, that was someone who was one of his biggest critics. They had run against each other.
Now, Marco Rubio is looking at positions like secretary of state. He's going to be serving in the administration. Now, the people who are actually in the Senate, Bernie Moreno who was just elected, that was a handpicked candidate by Donald Trump and his allies.
This is a very different makeup of Washington and of the Republican Party. You've really seen the full transformation with this election. You know, we've been saying it again for the last six years. But the big question was, was Donald Trump actually going to be
reelected to the White House? He was. On top of that, were his allies going to be put into the Senate?
Remember 2022, almost none, except for Ted Budd, none of his endorsed candidates actually made it into the White House. Dr. Oz, for example, in Pennsylvania. That is not what we saw this time around. He is going to have a Senate that is full of people who are Trump allies.
COLLINS: And also with the way it looks like the house is going, that Republicans are poised to keep the majority. Well see how these races bear out. It's still not clear how much of a majority they would have if it if it goes as expected.
But I mean, we've seen with Mike Johnson, he has stuck very close by Donald Trump. Trump saved him many times when people like Marjorie Taylor Greene wanted to move to oust him. Trump stood by him and supported him. And we've seen that dynamic playing out with that last minute flight by mike Johnson to Palm Beach last night so he could be on stage with Donald Trump when he delivered that victory speech, you know, at 2:00 in the morning.
HOLMES: There's almost no one in Washington who owes more to Donald Trump than Mike Johnson. I mean, Mike Johnson's speakership would have been over by now if Donald Trump hadn't stepped in.
I mean, the amount of times he has been brought to the table, that has essentially stopped, and the reason it stopped is because Donald Trump and his allies told Marjorie Taylor Greene, let's knock it off. I'm clearly standing by him. Marjorie Taylor Greene obviously being another very rabid Trump loyalist and supporter.
Mike Johnson owes a lot to Donald Trump, and his career is on the line. And he has clearly tried to show that loyalty back to the former president and likely is going to continue.
COLLINS: Yeah, and, Erin, it just speaks to the level of power that Donald Trump will be coming into office with. And I think that's something for people to realize is that he will have a very different Senate makeup when it even comes to his own Republican Party on the Senate.
Obviously, as Christine noted, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Republicans. But also, you know, a different level of power. He's the first time entering office with the Supreme Court decision on immunity.
It is going to be a reshaped presidency for Donald Trump when he returns to Washington in January.
BURNETT: Yeah. All right. Thank you very much, Kaitlan and Kristen.
And let's go now to Manu Raju, because on this issue of the balance of power, he's got another projection.
[19:10:04] MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Erin. In the race for control of the United States House, CNN can now project that the Democrats will hold this seat in a closely watched district in Central Virginia, the seventh congressional district. Eugene Vindman, the Democrat, defeating the Republican Derrick Anderson in that closely watched race.
Vindman, a former legal adviser in the National Security Council, whose brother actually played a key role in the first Trump impeachment, Eugene Vindman beating Derrick Anderson in that key race.
So what does this all mean for the overall balance of power in the United States House? Remember Democrats need to pick up a net of four seats to take back the House. But right now, they are falling short. There are six Republican pickups so far compared to two Democratic pickups. There are 36 seats remaining and really just very few opportunities to pick up seats.
Now, why are Democrats falling short? Let's break that down a little further. Look at Nebraska. This is a seat that is now currently occupied by Congressman Don Bacon who is a Republican. It's a seat that Joe Biden, in a district that Joe Biden carried by 6.4 percent in 2020.
Democrats thought they could pick that up, but they are losing in that race 8,300 votes. Tony Vargas, the Democratic candidate is behind Don Bacon with 95 percent reporting in that race.
But that's not it. Also in California, another key pickup opportunity for Democrats. They thought they were going to be able to beat John Duarte. He's an incumbent Republican, that's a district that Joe Biden carried by 13 points in 2020.
But look, Duarte is ahead by 3,100 votes against his Democratic challenger Adam Gray, with 48 percent reporting. Still a long way to go, but one that Republicans think they can hang on to.
And this is also just a recent change in Arizona seat. Juan Ciscomani. He is an incumbent Republican, a freshman Democrats had hoped to pick him off his seat as well, but now he is ahead because there was a new batch of votes that just came out. He's ahead by 417 votes. Obviously, a razor thin margin. It could potentially go either way. There's still a lot more to go.
So, where do other races stand at the moment? Right now Democrats are leading in four Republican seats. That's perhaps good news for the Democrats but this is the bad news for them two seats Republicans are leading in Democratic districts, which shows you, Erin, why Democrats' path back to the majority is so fraught.
Yes, they're up in some but they're down in some in getting that net of four seats is going to be very difficult. But one thing is very clear, even if Republicans do maintain control of the House, Erin, Speaker Mike Johnson would have a very narrow majority like he had in this past congress. Once again, could have that in this Congress. And that's not always an easy recipe to legislate. BURNETT: No, not at all. Manu, thank you so much. And it's so important to lay all that out because its complicated but still unknown who will control the House.
Joining me now is Joe Manchin, the retiring senior senator from West Virginia.
So, Senator, I'm glad to talk to you. And wow, what an historic moment we are in the midst of even now.
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (I-WV): Good to be with you, Erin.
BURNETT: So let's just start where Manu, he was laying out, you know, where the house is, right now on various races, who's up, who's down? Obviously, Donald Trump has the White House. The Republicans have the Senate.
Do you have any -- where do you think it stands here on the House? Do Democrats still have a chance or will Republicans have it in addition to the Senate and the White House?
MANCHIN: Well, let's say that the races that are so close right tonight that were still looking at and watching and everything is basically in swing areas. Swings can go either way.
And I've said this, you know, Donald Trump, didn't win just with MAGA. He won with the centrist and the common sense the independents in the middle. He was able to have a program that basically more people bought in than what Kamala did.
And that's the middle, the power of the middle is unbelievable. I just hope when they get to Washington, they remember how they got there. They got there by appealing to reasonable responsible, sensible people that are in the middle.
I'm in the middle. A lot of people, Democrats have become homeless and a lot of Republicans became homeless and we weren't Washington Democrats. We weren't Republican Democrats. But we wanted to get things done. You get things done from the middle.
So those are the tight races that can barely get by. And when they do get by, remember how you got elected and who voted for you? It's going to be the swing area, the middle of your district that basically got you over the hump.
BURNETT: So when you talk about what -- you're talking overall about the House, the Senate. But Trump specifically who got him there. I mean, look, overall, the results are overwhelming but it was a lot of different people, as you point out.
Hispanic men -- well, that really stands out right. That's an unprecedented shift in American politics. Hispanics overall in several crucial places better than Joe Biden did in 2020 among Black women, white women, old people, pretty much all people. Now, I know, Senator, that you never endorsed Harris specifically, but I guess just there's a very basic question out there. Do you think any Democrat could have beaten Trump?
[19:15:01]
MANCHIN: Well, anybody can get beaten if you have the right candidate with the right message but basically, who's connecting with the people on the front lines that are working, going to work every day, trying to provide for their families.
They're not caught up in all this hullabaloo, but they're basically if someone is saying something that resonates, that makes them understand they're going to be safer, they're going to have less inflation, they're going to be able to be able to take care of their kids and have a job that they can, you know hopefully thrive at and things of that sort.
What happens we get off, and the politicians get off so much on all of the intricacies of how people are going to live their life and this and that and everything, and forget about those who are actually working every day to live their lives and I think that swing area, President Donald Trump has to understand that's where he won. MAGA, his group, has always been there, his base.
BURNETT: Right.
MANCHIN: And Kamala's base was always there. It was that middle that basically swung to him.
BURNETT: No, that's right. I mean, I guess I'm just saying there are people out there who say, well, Joe Biden should have stayed in or he should have gotten out earlier and you could have had a primary and then they, you know, pick your choose your own adventure, you know, whether you're picking Wes Moore or Josh Shapiro or Gretchen Whitmer or Gavin Newsom.
I mean, or do you look out there and go, hey, guys, if you had just done this differently with a different horse or at a different time, Democrats wouldn't be sitting where they're sitting now?
MANCHIN: I'm not going to second guess. I -- you know how I felt about many primary things of that sort.
But the bottom line is you need to be tested. Okay, when you're tested in a situation such as that you get good ideas. Every time I run for an office, every time I had primaries, I got tested in the primary. I got tested in the general.
I always learned I thought it made me a better candidate. It made me a better representative once I won. So I appreciated that type of back and forth.
And with that, you know, I think really tonight or last night, what we should be thinking basically, how do this and democracy thanking all the poll workers, were going to be able to show an orderly transfer of power this is so much needed for the superpower of the world to be able to show that we can have in the most contentious times. I want to congratulate President Trump on his victory, and I want to thank Kamala Harris for her concession speech. But basically saying I will accept it. I will basically orderly transfer. She'll have to be there when they certify it and that that speaks volumes to what we have in America,
BURNETT: Right. It does -- it does in a moment where I think people had incredible anxiety and fear over how that would play out, there's still -- there's still time. You know, we see how all this goes. But, um, what we saw today was something to be proud of.
You know, your seat is going to be taken by, obviously, Republican. You had left the Democratic Party. You were an independent, but you obviously were a Democrat for a long time. So I wanted to read for you before you go, Senator, something that Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres wrote on Twitter. He's from the Bronx.
He writes: Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians and Jews from the Democratic Party with absurdities like defund the police or from the river to the sea or Latinx. There is more to lose than there is to gain politically from pandering to the far left that is more representative of Twitter, Twitch, and TikTok than of the real world. The working class is not buying the ivory tower nonsense that the far left is selling.
Do you agree with him? Do you think that the far left is a menace to what Democrats need?
MANCHIN: Well, the extreme is extreme whether it's far left or far right. They're extreme. That's not the mainstream. It's not how we live our lives and most of America.
Let me just make sure that everyone understands that we are Americans first, forget about the Democratic or Republican Party. Those are different ideologies of how you're going to control the problems or how you're going to fix problems and lead. We're Americans first, and I as an American, I want my president to succeed.
Donald Trump has been duly elected president of the United States of America. I'm going to do everything I can to hopefully help him be successful. And you've got to be able to speak truth to power in the most respectful ways of being contributing and helping. If we can take that attitude now because when my country does well, my president does well, my state does well.
BURNETT: Yeah.
MANCHIN: And when it doesn't, it goes to hell in a hand basket. That's the thing I don't want to see happen. I want them to remember that I hope the 60 vote threshold. You know how sacred that is to me.
BURNETT: Yes.
MANCHIN: The filibuster because that's what -- that's the glue that holds us together in a political very political, tough, tough atmosphere. And I'm hoping that that president Trump will understand how delicate that is and how important it is for him to be able to have something that he might really believe in that gets done with the 60-vote threshold that's going to be lasting and enduring. You do it with a simple majority, and ill guarantee you, it'll swing back and hit you as fast as it took you somewhere.
And we don't want that ping pong back and forth. And that's the differences. I had with what was going on. And I thought it was wrong.
BURNETT: All right. All right. Well, Senator Manchin --
MANCHIN: God bless America.
[19:20:01]
We're going to make it. We're going to survive, Erin. We're going to be good. We're going to do well. And you know what? We're going to work and try to make our country to come together and work basically for a better tomorrow.
BURNETT: All right.
MANCHIN: But we are going to hold people accountable and remember, it's the middle that got people elected.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Senator Manchin, thanks. We all appreciate speaking to you as always.
And ahead, Democratic Congressman Jim Himes. As we all wait to find out which party controls the House, this is going to be so crucial, Republicans have managed to flip the Senate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: "Election Night in America Continued". A moment ago, speaking with Erin, the outgoing Senator Joe Manchin had a word of advice for the incoming president-elect with MAGA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANCHIN: Donald Trump didn't win just with MAGA. He won with the centrist and the common sense, the independents in the middle. He was able to have a program that basically more people bought in than what Kamala did. And that's the middle, the power of the middle is unbelievable. I just hope when they get to Washington, they remember how they got there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Senator Joe Manchin tonight.
Back now with the panel.
Astead, the middle is often a difficult place to be. It's not clear how much Donald Trump is going to be sort of tacking to the middle and how much he's going to be basically have free rein to do whatever he wants. [19:25:09]
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I mean, that's the irony of the statement, is that Donald Trump may have won the middle, but he didn't do it pitching centrism, right. He pitched it with a more, I think, fringe version of his message than even the ads four years ago or even back eight years ago.
I think what we see is a middle rejection of the administration actually was really interested in the report from Kayla Tausche that she said a couple of minutes ago talking about the friction between Biden and Harris, possibly around her distancing from him. If anything Harris was overly deferential to Joe Biden. I think what we see from the results this week is a story that the unwillingness to break from the administration, whether it be on inflation or Gaza or immigration is a central problem with the candidacy.
The second thing that I think stuck out to that stuck out on that front was they were saying that, you know, they think maybe they were slightly underrating of Biden's unpopularity. I mean, of course, that's the lesson from this week. I mean, if they did not see that that is an ignoring of evidence that have shown him as a historically unpopular president for years. And so, partly, even hearing the postmortem coming from the Democrats is a reminder of just how far they were from the baseline feeling of the electorate.
It is not a thing they should have figured out the day after the election that Joe Biden was unpopular. It was the fundamental fact of this election was it was a was a status quo that we are seeing consistent evidence that people didn't like. And that included the middle.
COOPER: It's also so fascinating, Gretchen. I mean I feel like we learn this every election cycle, but how often polls are wrong, misleading, were looking in the wrong places, counting the wrong people, or we just are not finding what the actual momentum is.
It also fascinates me is, you know, we always hear about these internal numbers that campaigns have. And so Democrats are talking so much about their ground game and the number of doors they had knocked on, and all of this stuff, all of that seems to have been wrong. I mean, they didn't know what was actually happening any more than any of us outside knew.
GRETCHEN CARLSON, JOURNALIST: I was digging into some of those numbers today. First of all, when the first exit polls came out last night from Georgia, that usually I don't give a tremendous amount of credence to exit polls, but it was like they were spot on.
Fifty percent of the independents had gone with Trump in Georgia, and it was like, whoa, wait a minute. I mean, why -- why would the middle do that? And that was sort of the beginning of how the entire night went.
But also, we have not talked about the Latino vote. The Latino vote went overwhelmingly to in the favor of Donald Trump. I mean, Harris still won it, but she won by eight points. Biden won that by 33 points.
So what happened there? Also, New York City, one third of the vote in New York City went to Donald Trump. In the Bronx, in the Bronx, you had 35 percent increase for Donald Trump, in Queens, in Brooklyn. In New Jersey, Harris only won by five points.
These are wake up calls to staunch blue Democratic areas that there is something going on here that is out of the norm of how they were predicting it to go.
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Can I just say Donald Trump -- I mean, I think the question began with does Donald Trump have to live up to whatever it is. Donald Trump thinks he has a mandate. Donald Trump has been very clear about what he's going to do.
And every -- you know, he won. Looks like he won the popular vote -- I think in New York, if the numbers held, he went up in all five boroughs. That is not the rural vote. You see even in blue states he got -- you know, he went up in, in numbers.
COOPER: In some of the exit polling, voters were not happy with the choices they had in elections in general. So, you know, I think Manchin was getting to this idea that people may have gone for Donald Trump, who didn't love everything about Donald Trump. But given the choices, this is the choice they made. But there was sort of an overall dissatisfaction with choices. Nevertheless, a mandate -- the mandate is clear.
GANGEL: Correct. No question about it, I think I think the other thing that we just have to come back to is the word anger. This was something that we heard across the board. It went along with the economy and whether or not Donald Trump really has any empathy or understanding about many of these voters who are worried about prices in the supermarket or who feel left behind, they felt that his anger as they see it expressed related to.
COOPER: In fact in the exit polls, among his supporters, understands my problems. Cares about me was the lowest.
CARLSON: Seven percent.
COOPER: Right.
CARLSON: But with grocery prices early on in the night, it came out 50 percent of all people said that they were struggling to make ends meet simply because of gas prices and grocery prices.
[19:30:07]
HERNDON: To your point about the electorate and being upset with its choices, that's been the most consistent thing I've heard from D, R, independent over the past three years was, frankly, just shock at the option, particularly the Biden-Trump rematch. So much so that I think that was fueled the kind of breath of fresh air that came for Harris after the candidates, which that obviously tapered off at the end. But I would say that it also I think it also filters to like the
broader point about the political system. If there was a miscalculation, I think I was kind of unsure of going into this, was Donald Trump a candidate who can summon the anger? Was it going to be apathetic and people didn't come out, or was it going to be I'm going to show displeasure with this administration?
I frankly think that was up to Donald Trump, to whether he could summon that anger or not. And I think --
COOPER: He sure did.
HERNDON: That's the surprising part of this week, is that it did, because it could have gone the opposite way, which is what Democrats were expecting a lower turnout election would have been one that may have favored them more. They got the people there. They just like the other guy.
COOPER: Yeah. Astead Herndon, Jamie Gangel, thank you. Gretchen Carlson as well.
CARLSON: Thank you.
COOPER: Coming up next, Democratic Congressman Jim Himes, his take on the presidential race and a second Trump presidency, that and more when our special CNN election coverage continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:35:16]
COOPER: Election Night in America, the day after. In a statement just moments ago from Bill and Hillary Clinton, it reads in part, we must remember that America is bigger than the results of any one election. And what we as citizens do now will make the difference between a nation that moves forward and one that falls back.
The Clintons go on to say we need to solve our problems and seize our opportunities together. The future of our country depends on it.
Joining us now, Democratic Representative Jim Himes, who won reelection in Connecticut's fourth district.
Congratulations on -- on winning your race.
Obviously, I think you're as surprised as a lot of people are. Do you think the House will remain under Republican control?
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): I think it's a very close thing. I think its up to about six races in California, Alaska, a couple other places. I mean, I think it's at best a 50/50 thing for the Democrats, but again, California famously late to the -- to produce results. So I'm not giving up hope.
COOPER: I mean, given your time in Congress thus far, what does it mean if Donald Trump has the House and the Senate and this mandate from voters?
HIMES: Well, from my standpoint, that's a huge problem, right? And I lived in a world back in 2009 when the Democrats had the presidency, 60 votes in the Senate, which they're not going to see, and a solid majority in the House of Representatives.
Back then you may remember this. You know, you couldn't get a public option attached to Obamacare. You know, Dodd-Frank, which got created in that era, was actually pretty moderate legislation, as it turns out.
What I do worry about is if that's the situation, I don't have much doubt that Donald Trump is going to make a phone call on day one and say, you guys get rid of the filibuster. And if they get rid of the filibuster, of course, it is open field running for the Republican Party. And from my standpoint, if and if Donald Trump is to be believed about what he says he's going to do with tariffs, with national security, with so many other things, that's a pretty scary thought.
COOPER: One of the things that some Republicans were saying to those who were concerned, to voters who were concerned about RFK, Jr. running HHS was, oh, well, you know, he would never get past confirmation. If Trump has the control of the Senate and the House, he could.
HIMES: Yeah, that's right, that's right. And again, this is why I'm sort of concerned about the filibuster, which has been around for a long time. And love it or hate it, it's -- if they do, in fact keep control of the House. There's a couple moderating factors the filibuster, the fact that if they do have a house majority, it'll be 1, 2 or 3 votes, tops, right?
They weren't able to manage a house with a four-vote majority. So they're going to have all kinds of problems associated with actually governing. Remember, the House was not governing in the last Congress because the Senate was Democratic and the president was Democratic.
So that's really, really hard to do, and could be a moderating factor. There's going to be a lot of nervous Republicans. If Donald Trump really lets his freak flag fly and goes extreme, you know, people like Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania are going to say, wait a minute, this is the end of my career if you do this stuff.
And so, again, there's nothing good about this from the standpoint of a Democrat. But there are moderating factors in play.
COOPER: Do you see, though? I mean, Mitch McConnell is stepping down from leadership position. I mean, do you have any doubt that whoever becomes the leader on the Republican side in the Senate will just -- will be an acolyte of Donald Trump.
HIMES: Well, no, is the short answer to your question. You know Democrats like me always said, you know, Donald Trump has never won the popular vote. Well, he's going to win the popular vote.
Donald Trump is not a winner -- well, he was a big winner. It hurts me to say that, but he was a big winner.
So what are my Republican colleagues going to take away from that? This is not like, is this the Donald Trump who with whom we lost the Senate majority? Is this the Donald Trump with whom we lost the House?
No, this is the Donald Trump with whom we win big time. So whatever Adam Kinzinger instinct, Liz Cheney instinct existed in the Republican Party, that's gone. That's gone. Donald Trump owns these guys.
COOPER: The -- you know, he ran on mass deportations. There were signs of this at the Republican convention. Is that something you see happening quickly?
HIMES: Well, you know in the -- you know, it's funny, I've talked to a lot of people today, freaked out in a lot of different ways. Deportations because the president controls, you know, the levers of power of, you know, CBP and the Department of Homeland Security.
That is something that he could get under way pretty quickly, now to really put a lot of money into it. And it would take a ton of money he would need congressional approval. But again, we just talked about the congressional alignment that he has. So, yeah, that's a concern.
And you know, the other moderating factor, by the way, and remember, Donald Trump is famous for saying he will do many, many, many things that he doesn't do, where he didn't see the border wall paid for by Mexico. So there's a lot of things that he's put out there that is not -- that aren't going to happen, but you don't know what.
I mean, again, I was one of the last members of the House out of the chamber on January 6th. None of us imagined that. So it's unpredictable. A lot of the things he says he's going to do, he's not going to do, but some of the things he says he's going to do, he's going to do.
COOPER: Yeah. Congressman Jim Himes, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
Our special election coverage continues with more on the shape the new administration might take and what to expect from the president elect in the days and weeks ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:43:51]
BURNETT: And welcome back to CNN's "Election Night in America Take Two". CNN just learning President Biden held a call with White House staff in which he said, and I quote him, while I'm sure you are all feeling a variety of emotions today, I hope there's one emotion you don't lose sight of, that's pride. Pride in everything we've accomplished. That's the direct quote from President Biden.
And my panel is back with me.
So, Ashley, you know that comment comes ahead of President Biden going to address the nation tomorrow. Obviously, Kamala Harris spoke today to concede. What does he need to say?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he needs to say not talk about him not running, which I doubt he will. You know he'll be doing it from --
BURNETT: Oh, you don't think he should come out and say, yeah, see you guys. Don't you wish you kept me?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Why hide what's inside? Because, you know, that's what he's thinking.
ALLISON: But, yeah, I mean, maybe, but, and I think he should thank the vice president for being a great partner for running a great race, acknowledge, most importantly, that Donald Trump has won the election, because that's what adults do when people win and when other people lose.
And then I would not use this as a moment to tout the accomplishments of the Biden administration.
[19:45:03]
There will be time for him to take a lap, you know --
BURNETT: Right.
ALLISON: -- in December and before the inauguration. But I would talk about the important moment that our country is in and how divided we are and talk about the values we need to move forward and really do what -- he's still the president of the United States of America.
Democrats, Republicans and independents, and he can talk to all of us about how we can move forward as he is about to hand it over.
BURNETT: All jokes aside, Ana, you know every time there's an election, I remember in John McCain when John McCain ran, there were Democrats who said if he wins, I'm moving to Canada. The same old thing this time, though, there were people who really felt that they would not want to be a part of a country where this was the outcome.
And here we are, and it's President Biden's opportunity to speak to those people and have them believe that they are still a part of this country, that they need to be a part of this country, that we are all in this together, right? The stakes are high. And isn't he uniquely suited to speak to people and provide that inspiration?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'm not sure he's going to convince the people who have bought second homes in Portugal, but for the rest --
BURNETT: They're a different group.
NAVARRO: Joe Biden is a wise elder, and he is a man who has a particular way of being empathetic and I suspect he will be very unifying. I agree with Ashley. I think she he will thank Kamala Harris. I think he will thank and talk about democracy, the people who participated, the voters the fact that it was a peaceful process, the fact that it was a process with very few anomalies, that was the systems held their ground.
He's going to be out there defending democracy and I think saying to everybody let's get forward, you know, let's move forward and let's do it together. I think he's going to say to us what he told Donald Trump on the phone today.
I have invited Donald Trump to the White House. He has accepted. I am going -- my administration is going to help him transition.
BURNETT: So, Scott, you know, at the meantime, there's the transition that's got to start and all these things and, you know, you're in this moment of having people, people accept what's happened. People move forward together and -- and then and then you're going to start talking about a cabinet.
So RFK, Jr. was out there today and he was talking about this because Trump has said RFK, Jr. will go wild on health. That's what he said. He said he will go wild and today, RFK, Jr. spoke out about what that means if he were to be running the FDA. And here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. (I), FOMRER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are entire departments, like the nutrition departments at FDA that are -- that have to go, that are not doing their job. They're not protecting our kids. Why do we have fruit loops in this country that have 18 or 19 ingredients? And you go to Canada and it's got two or three?
REPORTER: Would you eliminate any of the agencies?
KENNEDY: Am I -- to eliminate the agencies as long as it requires congressional approval, I wouldn't be doing that. And I can get the corruption out of the agencies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I'm not going to comment on the fruit loops. I got an opinion as a parent about fruit loops, and I know others have their opinion on fruit loops. I used to love them as a kid, though I will say that.
All jokes aside though, okay, he referenced congressional approval. But, you know, but is this is this what were going to see? Do you think, as Secretary Kennedy is something that this country will see?
JENNINGS: I don't know, my general view on the transition, all transitions is you're going to hear from a million people, people who supported a ticket are going to have a seat at the table. There will be other people who have views in this specific space.
And so, you know, no person is a monolith when it comes to any individual policy, and ultimately and the most important thing to know, there's only one boss, the president-elect, and then the president of the United States. And so my advice to anyone who is trying to become part of the administration or be influential is just remember, you're not the boss. He got elected. He's the boss.
And so ultimately, that's the person who makes all the decisions. And so before you get out over your skis or before you try to box him in, just remember the president is the president.
BURNETT: And we all remember how --
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: RFK is in a -- in a unique -- in a unique position, right, because he -- Donald Trump wasn't out there campaigning about Marco Rubio being secretary of state or anything, but he did campaign on RFK running health.
JENNINGS: They had an alliance.
NAVARRO: And he did it over and over again. It wasn't like, you know one crazy thought.
JENNINGS: And he -- and RFK, you know, he has had some controversial views.
NAVARRO: Some?
JENNINGS: And other things that he says actually make -- there are a lot of people on the left and right who happen to agree with him about overly processed foods, and the impact on --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: They do, the auto-immune, all these things, yes.
JENNINGS: What's happening to our children. So, you know, ultimately, there's a range of issues that that may get tackled here, but there's also, I think, going to be a range of people who get involved, either at the White House or the agency level. But that's the purpose of the transition, the purpose of building an administration.
NAVARRO: I'm old enough to remember when Republicans all hell broke loose, when Michelle Obama tried to talk about nutrition and children.
[19:50:07]
BURNETT: She tried to tweak the food labels, which is exactly what he's talking about.
NAVARRO: And do you remember the attacks?
BURNETT: Oh, yes, we know.
JENNINGS: We know more about. But, you know, honestly --
BURNETT: That's how we know how many things are --
JENNINGS: As a society, we now know more about what you put in your body, the impacts it has on you than we've ever known. And why shouldn't the government look into things like that?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, think about the number of younger people getting cancer as compared to other developed worlds. Now, one could debate if RFK should be the person overseeing that or not. Could he be a part of the conversations? I'm not going to say one way or the other.
But I do think there's some very serious ailments that were seeing an increase in with younger people, that people are starting to worry what's going on with our food system. Why aren't we taking better care of ourselves? It would be great for Republicans to spearhead.
NAVARRO: Yeah, go ahead and try to take peoples frosted flakes away and see how --
BURNETT: Right.
NAVARRO: See how that works in 2022.
BURNETT: I was waiting for my fruit loops.
NAVARRO: Not even -- not even his family thinks--
BURNETT: Are there fruit loops in your house, Scott?
JENNINGS: Oh, there's all kinds of things in my house that ought not be there. But that's the struggles of a parent that has four -- look, I -- you and I are in the same boat here. We know what we know what its like to try to fight the food situation in this country. When you have kids, it's damn near impossible to fight it.
So I have some sympathies for this because I worry every day about what the kids are ingesting. And then, you know, a lot of days you're like, I guess I'm just going to have to go with it. And you don't feel great about it, but parents wrestle with these questions all the time.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: Scott, as a Republican, you're for individual choice. You're for parental choice. You're not for RFK telling you that you have to choose or that you can't choose what cereal you --
BURNETT: These are the conversations. And she loves fruit loops.
ALLISON: I wasn't allowed to eat them as a child, but I love them.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: I was in that situation, too.
JENNINGS: Why is that? What did mama say?
BURNETT: Okay, we got to go.
ALLISON: She's a dietitian.
SINGLETON: But the ingredients are different in Europe than in the U.S., just saying. Sorry, Erin.
BURNETT: I hope everyone can get some smiles and laughs out of this.
All right, more of our special coverage coming up ahead. Coming up with what the federal change -- federal charges that were brought against Trump, all of this, that so much time was appropriately spent discussing by the special counsel, Jack Smith. We have breaking news on that. Paula Reid has that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:03]
BURNETT: And welcome back to our "Election Night in America Continued".
We have some breaking news coming in right now about the Trump legal team and the hush money case.
Paula Reid breaking all of that for us. Paula, you've had so much news on this today. What are you learning now?
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So here I've learned that the Trump team is going to try to get Trump's upcoming sentencing in New York canceled. Historically, their strategy in that case and really all the cases has been to delay, delay, delay but this time they're going to argue to the judge that as a president-elect, Trump is entitled to the same protections as a sitting president and should be protective from any state prosecutors, from any action in a state level proceeding.
Now, the judge, Judge Juan Merchan, has given himself a deadline of November 12th, to weigh in on whether this entire conviction should be tossed after the Supreme Court's immunity ruling this summer. If he does that, the sentencing will go away. But the Trump team again, they're not even just trying to delay this. They're going to try to get this canceled.
BURNETT: Trying to get it canceled all right. So, a huge development there. And what are your sources telling you about the federal cases as well now that he is president elect?
REID: So I've learned that special counsel Jack Smith, he's been talking with leaders at the justice department, including the attorney general, about how to wind down his two cases against President-elect Trump. Now, they've been talking about internal guidance. Justice department guidance around, you know, whether a sitting president can be indicted or prosecuted and how that applies to a president elect.
Now, I'm told these conversations will likely continue for several days. It is complicated. He has codefendants. Also, questions about what happens to the special counsel's office. But it is expected that Trump will not have to order his Justice Department to fire smith, as he has said he would do, or dismiss the case as it is expected at this point that these will be wrapped up before he gets to the White House.
BURNETT: All right, Paula, thank you very much. All those breaking details.
So lets go straight to senior legal analyst Elie Honig.
So, Elie, just starting with Paula's latest reporting that Trump's legal team is now going to request the Judge Merchan, of course, who handled the cases here in New York cancel sentencing in the hush money case, right? That case that we spent all those days attending court as did the former president in this spring.
So how do you think that's going to go?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Boy, I can see this one either way Erin. This is another example of a situation we have never encountered in American history. On the one hand, I can see Judge Merchan saying, no, we had sentencing scheduled for a long time. I'm going to go ahead and impose sentence.
On the other hand, if he's looking at the practicalities, I can see him concluding, look, no matter what I sentence Donald Trump to, he's not going to serve a day behind bars. He's now the president elect. He's going to spend the next four years as president. Why bother? Why even get into this mess?
BURNETT: So, all right, so well see how that one goes. Now the immunity ruling from the Supreme Court came down in July. And then there's been the back and forth on that in terms of and then obviously waiting to see how this election went, to move forward with that. So we're still in the early stages of its impact of immunity.
So what do you think happens now that you have a President elect Trump?
HONIG: You know, I don't know that we've ever seen a president in American history taking office with as few guardrails as few checks and balances on him as Donald Trump is about to have when he takes the White House on January 20th. First of all, he's just come through four criminal indictments. He's not going to spend a day behind bars.
Second of all, the immunity ruling you just mentioned, it's very broad. It's brand new, but essentially it says anything that he does that can be tied to his official acts as president he cannot be prosecuted for.
Third of all, let's be realistic. There's not going to be a federal investigation of Donald Trump while he's president. There's not going to be a special counsel this time. He and his attorney general are not going to allow the next Robert Mueller to be appointed.
And on top of that, he's got a Republican Senate now, could end up with a Republican House and the Supreme Court 6 to 3 in favor of conservatives. So we're going to have to rely on the nonpolitical people who work in government and perhaps the courts and the good faith of the people who Donald Trump works picks to work in his administration.
BURNETT: Right. Which is crucial. And, of course, as I know, Elie, you believe that it is possible that the special counsel, Jack Smith, even though Trump's made it clear he will fire him, could come out with a full report, even though that case will go away. And we'll see if that happens. That could be very important just for the historical record.
So, Elie, thanks very much. I appreciate it.
And thanks so much as always to all of you for being with us on this historic day.
Our special election coverage continues now with Anderson.
