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Harris And Trump In The Final Sprint To Election Day; Senator Tim Scott Defends Trump's False Election Claims; More Fencing Being Installed Outside VP Residence; The Global Impact Of U.S. Presidential Election. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 03, 2024 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:09]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news, we're just over a day away from the first polls opening on election day as this one- of-a-kind race for the White House draws to a close. New numbers just in to CNN showing more than 75 million people have already voted, that's nearly half of the total number of Americans who voted back in 2020.

It's been a Sunday scramble for all candidates crisscrossing the battleground states. And right now, both campaigns are holding dueling rallies this hour.

We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

I'm Wolf Blitzer, and this is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM, "Countdown to Election Day in America."

Right now no clear leader and both candidates are closing out their final messages. We have teams covering this election the way that only CNN can. Jeff Zeleny is over at the Harris rally in East Lansing, Michigan, where she'll be speaking in a few minutes, and Kristen Holmes is out there on the campaign trail with the Trump campaign in Macon, Georgia, for us.

Let's begin this hour with CNN's Jeff Zeleny. He's traveling with the Harris campaign in East Lansing, Michigan, a critical battleground state with 15 electoral votes that are so important in Harris's road to the White House.

What's her closing message to voters there? What are you hearing, Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Vice President Harris is poised to take the stage here in just a few minutes at Michigan State University. You mentioned the more than 75 million Americans cast their ballots early. More than 2.6 million of them are right here in Michigan. Today is the last day for early voting. That is why Vice President Harris is here in East Lansing on the campus of Michigan State University.

There is voting going on just right outside this fieldhouse, but this campaign is closing in a far more optimistic and joyful themes and tenors than former president Donald Trump is. Of course we have no idea what will motivate voters more. But take a listen just a short time ago to have Vice President Harris urged her voters to see this race as a time to turn the page.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And here is what feeds my spirit as I travel across our beautiful nation from state to state and from church to church. I see faith and action in remarkable ways. I see a nation determined to turn the page on hatred and division and chart a new way forward.

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: As I travel I see Americans from so-called red states to so- called blue states who are ready to bend the ark of history toward justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So one of the central questions hanging over the final hours of this race is, which candidate do voters see as a candidate of change? Would it be Vice President Harris or would it be a return to former president Donald Trump?

But, Wolf, as we talk to voters here, of course they are supporters of Vice President Harris, that is why they are here, but there are still a sliver of undecided voters, believe it or not. But the biggest challenge now for both sides is getting some of those undecided voters to actually turn out on Tuesday. Early voting is now reaching the end. But again in 36 hours, election day is upon us -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It will be a historic moment to be sure. Jeff Zeleny, in East Lansing, Michigan, for us. Jeff, thanks very much. Standby to hear what the vice president has to say.

I want to head to Georgia right now with its 16 electoral votes up for grabs. CNN's Kristen Holmes is on the ground for us with the Trump campaign.

Kristen, Trump's closing message on this final weekend has taken, I guess we shouldn't necessarily be all that surprised, a rather dark tone again. Update our viewers.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And when I spoke to a number of senior advisers, they said that Donald Trump was going to be focused on the economy, on inflation, on moving forward, but what we heard in Pennsylvania earlier today for his first of three rallies in battleground state was much more erring of grievances. He spent an enormous amount of time, roughly 20 minutes trying to sow seeds of doubt about the 2024 election talking about fraud.

At one point, Donald Trump, who did not participate in a peaceful transfer of power, said that he should have stayed in the White House and he went on a bitter rant about a series of recent polling that had him trailing behind Kamala Harris, then when talking about both of the assassination attempts, he mentioned this about the press standing in the way of potential bullets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a piece of glass over here and I don't have a piece of glass there.

[18:05:04]

But I have this piece of glass here. But all we have really over here is the fake news, right?

(LAUGHTER AND CHEERS)

TRUMP: And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don't mind that so much because --

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: I don't mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now we did get a -- we did get a statement from Spokesperson Steven Cheung who said this. He said, "President Trump was stating that the media was in danger and that they were protecting him and therefore we are in great danger themselves and should have a glass protective shield also. There cannot be another interpretation of what he said."

Just a reminder, we played that sound there for our viewers saying that he didn't mind if somebody shot through the press in order to get to him. I can tell you from speaking to a number of his advisers and allies this is not the kind of messaging they want him to be putting forward on these final days of the campaign where they believe that every single vote matters. We'll also note that in a second rally of the day in North Carolina, he appeared to stay much more on message than he did in Pennsylvania. We'll see what happens tonight in Georgia -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. He says he doesn't mind if shots are fired through the journalists, through the journalists who are covering this election campaign. It's disgusting.

Kristen Holmes, thank you very, very much.

CNN anchor and chief correspondent Dana Bash is joining us.

Dana, the nation is on edge, as you well know, just ahead of this election day, and that also includes the surrogates who are out there touting their respective candidates. This morning you had a Trump ally in South Carolina, Senator Tim Scott, on "STATE OF THE UNION," you did an excellent job, as you always do. You pressed him on Trump's false claims, and there are so many of them, of election fraud. Update our viewers on that.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tim Scott is, as you said, a surrogate. He came on "STATE OF THE UNION" for that reason as someone to speak for Donald Trump. He is also a United States senator, somebody who did not vote to do away with the -- well, let me put it this way. He did not challenge the electoral college votes back on January 6th, 2021. And he clearly is somebody who tried a couple of times, as I heard Scott Jennings on your show last hour do, say that this will be a free and fair election.

But when it comes to Donald Trump really aggressively undermining that every time he comes before a microphone, including today, that's what I wanted to ask Tim Scott about. Here's how that went.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: He's setting the stage for his supporters not to believe the results if he loses. Do you want him to stop doing that?

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): I would never tell any candidate on the ballot to talk about what happens if they lose. Obviously, you're going to lean into the victory especially when the latest polls in battleground states says that you're running forward.

BASH: I appreciate that, Senator. Forgive me but spreading false rumors --

SCOTT: You're running ahead of your candidate.

BASH: Totally. But saying false things about fraud is not --

SCOTT: Listen, Dana, you and I disagree on this one. Totally disagree on this one.

BASH: You think it's OK to spend false rumors about fraud and undermine the integrity of the election regardless of what happens?

SCOTT: Dana, the liberal media has done a better job of spreading misinformation than any candidate I have seen so far.

BASH: Oh, come on, Senator. We saw what happened on January 6th as a result of that and many other things. You were there at the Capitol.

SCOTT: I was.

BASH: Are you saying right now -- you want to leave this conversation and say you are OK with his rhetoric?

SCOTT: Well, Dana, what I'm going to tell you is the truth. The Supreme Court and local courts in Pennsylvania have ruled in favor of the Trump campaign this election cycle.

BASH: But this has nothing to do with what he is saying.

SCOTT: In 2020 the Supreme Court then made changes prospectively. You're asking the question about voter integrity, election integrity. BASH: Right.

SCOTT: I'm giving you the answer. We've seen a strong shift in the right direction, and that's reasons for us to be optimistic that this election will be fair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, Wolf, this, as we learned -- all learned the hard way is so, so important. We have to get past Tuesday and we all understand that this is something that is totally not predictable, but it is what Donald Trump is doing right now, that is making a lot of people very, very nervous because we saw what happened four years ago.

And, you know, advisers to Donald Trump clearly as Kristen was reporting are trying to get him back on track, but when he sees things like some of the polls that came out this morning from "The New York Times" that don't necessarily comport with where he thinks the race is or should be, he tends to lash out in ways and revert to some of the kinds of comments that we heard today that his advisers do not think are helpful in the last 48 hours.

[18:10:18]

BLITZER: And I know they're beefing up security just in advance of what's going to happen on Tuesday in the District of Columbia. Let's see what happens on that front. Let's hope it remains quiet.

I know you also had a chance earlier today on "STATE OF THE UNION," Dana, to speak with Democratic Senator John Fetterman. What was his closing message to the folks in Pennsylvania?

BASH: Well, he is absolutely adamant that it is going to be tight. He does, as Tim Scott was saying about Donald Trump, he is a Democrat fighting for Kamala Harris. He does believe he say that Kamala Harris is going to win, but he says he's under no illusion that it is anything other than a nailbiter race as we have seen. But when it comes to claims of voter fraud that have not been proven, in fact disproved by local officials in Pennsylvania, what Fetterman said was desperation is the worst cologne.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): And I'd like to remind everybody that Biden wrecked his ship by 80,000 votes and now we're going to be back in the same situation. He's going to try to lie and claim these baseless things, but now we're going to have a new team leading America, and that's going to be Harris and Walz. But it is going to be close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And Wolf, remember, he was on the ballot two years ago, so he has a very recent experience of what it's like to win statewide in Pennsylvania. He also helped Hillary Clinton back in 2016 and has talked very openly about the fact that he saw during that campaign the pockets of voters who had never really come out for a Republican, who were connecting for Donald Trump. He said those voters definitely still have that connection with Donald Trump here we are eight years later, but that's why they're trying very hard to get out as many Democratic voters as they can in Pennsylvania which is going to be the ballgame by all accounts.

BLITZER: You're certainly right, as you always are. Dana, thank you very, very, much.

BASH: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Vice President Kamala Harris, by the way, she's on the stage right now in East Lansing, Michigan. I want to listen in briefly and hear what she's saying.

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Price gouging on groceries and to make housing and child care more affordable.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: My plan will cut taxes for workers for middle-class families and small businesses.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: Lower healthcare costs, including the cost of homecare for seniors because by the way --

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: I believe healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: And to those certain individuals who still want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.

(BOOING)

HARRIS: And take us back to the days when insurance companies could deny people with pre-existing conditions, well, you all know what we say. We are not going back.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: We are not going back.

BLITZER: We're going to continue to monitor the vice president, hear what she has to say. We'll dip back in if we get some more news, but that's an important speech she is delivering right now.

From the first votes to the critical count, no one covers election night in America like CNN does. Our special live coverage will start Tuesday 4:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN, and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:15]

BLITZER: Right now, dueling rallies from the campaigns in these the final days to election day. Kamala Harris speaking at a rally in East Lansing, Michigan, while Donald Trump will soon hit the stage in Macon, Georgia. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is speaking at his rally right now. We're monitoring that.

We have our panel of experts here with me right now.

And Jamal, let me start once again with you. Kamala Harris heading to Pennsylvania tomorrow. She's in Michigan right now. She wants to get a bigger turnout on Tuesday, the final day that people can vote here in the United States. Is she going to succeed?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Looks like she's going to succeed getting that turnout out. I was in my little town in New Jersey, and I saw literally hundreds of people boarding buses to go (INAUDIBLE) -- in Pennsylvania. I'm hearing about that from people all over the East Coast, going into Pennsylvania trying to knock on doors. I'm sure the people who live there will be happy when all these strangers get out of their towns, get out of their homes, but until then, this operation that the Democrats are doing, we've got a lot of experience bringing out local voters. I think it's going to have its impact.

BLITZER: The Democrats have a lot more money going into these final few days than the Republicans do, right?

SIMMONS: They've got money. And, you know, one number you hear a lot is that you need to get around 500,000 votes net out of Philadelphia in order for us to win. I've heard people talk about a goal of 600,000 votes coming out of Philadelphia. So if the Democrats aimed for 600, and they get to 550, that's a very good sign in the state.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Scott, a senior Kamala Harris campaign official says Trump is closing his campaign today with, quote, "total darkness and anger." That's a quote from the senior Harris campaign official. How do you respond to that?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: 98 percent of her campaign has been attacking Donald Trump, lying about Donald Trump, making things up about his record, making things up about what he would do as president.

[18:20:03]

I think the core of his campaign is that we have to fix the economy. The core of his campaign and for them to accuse Donald Trump of running a negative and dark campaign after some of the lies and nastiness that have come out of the Democrats in this election cycle to me is beyond the pale.

SIMMONS: Scott, enemies list. Shoot through the media. Double barrel guns pointed at Liz Cheney. This is all pretty violent rhetoric.

JENNINGS: Honestly, the thing that happened on Friday might be one of the biggest travesties of this campaign.

SIMMONS: Don't try to normalize it. You know it's bad.

JENNINGS: He literally did not say what he has been accused of saying. He made a common anti-war argument that a lot of people have been making in this country for decades. I happen to disagree with that argument, by the way. But the way it was spun all to distract from an abysmal jobs report is absolutely ridiculous.

There's a lot of things you can criticize Donald Trump on, you don't have to go out and totally make things up, which was done on Friday.

BLITZER: Let me get Maria to respond. Go ahead, Maria.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We're not making it up, Scott. These were actual words.

JENNINGS: You literally are.

CARDONA: No. These are actual words that came out of his mouth and you can't change the definition of words when you know the definition of words.

JENNINGS: No, you can. But you can.

CARDONA: And when they come out of his mouth. And the thing is, is that that's not the only horrible violent thing that he has said, not just in the last week, but frankly since the time he came down that escalator in 2015. And when I think these final days are crystallizing for the American people is that they are hearing Donald Trump in Donald Trump's own words. It is the violence. It's the Puerto Rico is an island of trash. It's the hate rally that he had at Madison Square Garden.

This is what is pushing so many voters to finally realize we need to really turn the page. And what I think is really smart of the Kamala Harris campaign and this I think is what you are talking about, Scott, that she is being so dark and is the one that is insulting Donald Trump, she's repeating what Donald Trump is saying or she is repeating what others have said about Donald Trump.

And that I think is really underscoring and defining for the American people who Donald Trump is, who he will be, but he's much darker, he's much more menacing, he's much more violent. There have been studies analyzing the words and the phrases and the imagery that he is using and it's so much worse now than it ever has been and that's a huge contrast going into this election.

BLITZER: Yes, and you can't justify what he said today about shooting through what he calls the fake news, the fake media, fake news media. These are reporters who are there, they're working, they're reporting the news, they're trying to cover it, and he says, go ahead and shoot through them in order -- if you got guns. JENNINGS: Yes, I'm not going to justify it. I would not that the

campaign put out a statement saying that, you know, the meaning of what he has said is being misinterpreted. So I think the campaign ought to speak for itself. But no, I'm not going to justify it. And look, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that every single thing Donald Trump says is great, or that he should be focused on something else when he's talking about other issues. That's absolutely the case. So I'm not going to justify it. I do think the campaign statement ought to be entered into the record on --

BLITZER: Do you think he's getting nervous that this is slipping from him?

JENNINGS: I think if I were either campaign, I'd be nervous. Look, it's a 50-50 race. Either of them could win, either of them could lose. And so if I were either of them, I wouldn't be getting too good a night of sleep over the next couple of nights.

BLITZER: Kristen?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I completely agree this is a very -- it is a race where a lot of things could happen. I just caught myself. I almost said it's a very close race, but actually a number of polls coming out saying that the race looks close does not mean that we know for certain that the race is close.

JENNINGS: Yes.

CARDONA: That's right.

SOLTIS ANDERSON: And so my message to everybody has been you need to prepare yourself mentally for a wide range of outcomes because we do not know what Wednesday morning is going to look like.

BLITZER: I want to play a clip, Maria, and get your reaction. Nancy Pelosi's husband, as we all know, was attacked with a hammer. She responded to Trump's latest round of violent rhetoric. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Our family has experienced the violence. Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy? Coming into our house violating the sanctity of our home, the safety of my husband, looking for me, echoing what was said on January 6th in the Capitol. Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy? Was coming up to punish me for what I had said about Donald Trump.

It does have a chilling effect on people who may want to run for office to think that they would be endangering themselves or more importantly their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What do you make of that, Maria?

CARDONA: Yes. I mean, she's right. This is something that we have been dealing with ever since Donald Trump has come on to the scene and this goes to what I was discussing earlier, which is that the violent rhetoric that he uses, the imagery for as much as the campaign wants to spin it after it comes out of his mouth, I think other than his base, the vast majority of the American people, number one, don't believe it, and number two, I believe are getting sick of it, and that's what we're seeing in the polls.

[18:25:07]

JENNINGS: So you believe that the person who attacked the Pelosis is that Trump is directly responsible for that?

CARDONA: I think that Trump's violent rhetoric inspires people to go out and commit those acts of violence.

JENNINGS: No, I'm talking about that person. Because if you believe that, do you also believe about the person who nearly shot Donald Trump's head off?

CARDONA: I am saying that the violent rhetoric --

JENNINGS: No, it's a simple question.

CARDONA: No, no.

JENNINGS: Are they the same or not?

CARDONA: The violent rhetoric that Donald Trump has injected into our politics from the moment he came down on that escalator has made the whole issue of politics and the way that we live it a lot more violent and a lot more dangerous. And he is responsible for that.

SIMMONS: Got to say this. If we had a 15-year-old who was posting things online, like what Donald Trump says at rallies, he would be visited by the police and the school officials would try to keep him out of classrooms. This is unacceptable. We can't normalize it. Donald Trump is responsible.

BLITZER: All right. Everybody hold your thoughts, we have more to discuss and we will discuss. Let's take a quick break, much more of our special coverage here in THE SITUATION ROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:33]

BLITZER: All right. This just coming into THE SITUATION ROOM. Major new fencing being installed right now outside of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. That's where the vice president and her family lives right now. And you see the fencing going up.

This is a significant development throughout Washington. And I live in Washington, of course. There has been major security issues getting ready for the election, hoping there won't be a repeat of the last time there was violence when a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.

I want to discuss what's going on with the former secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, Jeh Johnson.

Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for joining us.

JEH JOHNSON, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Thanks.

BLITZER: As you know, this election is happening in every county across the United States. How does an organization like yours, the Department of Homeland Security, even begin to approach a major security operation like this?

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, in terms of physical security, Wolf, January 6th, 2025 has been designated an NSSE, a national special security event, like the State of the Union, like the inauguration. And so that brings to bear every federal law enforcement agency involved and security one way or another.

I'm told that the fencing and the barricades are already beginning to go up at the U.S. Capitol. You mentioned the vice president's residence. She may well be the president-elect later this week, and so that's entirely appropriate. But in terms of social media and cyber security, I think that's something that does require a lot of attention and focus.

You may recall just before I left office in January 2017, I declared election infrastructure to be critical infrastructure in this country and a lot of good work has been done around that such that the 2020 election was probably the most secure election in our history despite the challenges of COVID in 2020 and the record turnout there under the leadership of Jen Easterly has done a lot of good work around election cybersecurity.

Wolf, to continue --

BLITZER: Mr. Secretary, I'm going to interrupt you for a moment.

JOHNSON: Go ahead. Sure.

BLITZER: We're having trouble -- technical problems, we're not hearing you right now. I want to take a quick break, fix the problem and resume this important conversation. Stick around. Don't go too far away.

JOHNSON: OK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:37:10]

BLITZER: We're back now with the former secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, Jeh Johnson.

Mr. Secretary, we fixed our little technical problem. Our viewers could hear you, but we lost -- those of us here in New York lost complete -- your audio so we weren't hearing you at all. But we've fixed that now.

JOHNSON: OK.

BLITZER: So we can resume this conversation. Let me get to the bulk of it. A lot of us are concerned what might happen in the immediate aftermath of the election coming up on Tuesday. How concerned should we be that there could be another January 6th?

JOHNSON: Well, in terms of January 6th, the actual event that occurs in Congress, as I was saying earlier before the break, the Department of Homeland Security has designated that event an NSSE, a national special security event, like the State of the Union, like the inauguration, which brings to bear a lot of a federal security and law enforcement. I have a lot of confidence around the security of that particular event. I am told that barricades and fences at the Capitol are already going up.

Wolf, to be frank, my larger concern is that, as we speak, foreign actors are trying to infiltrate our American conversation leading up to this election to cause discord, confusion, suspicion, anger. As we speak, Wolf, there are generative AI images of people supposedly tearing up absentee ballots and the like. Migrants voting somehow. Even Brad Raffensperger, the Republican Georgia secretary of state, has called that out. And so I don't consider myself an alarmist, but I am alarmed about that. And I'm asking --

BLITZER: Which foreign actors, Mr. Secretary, are doing this?

JOHNSON: Well, Russia has been called out specifically. We have seen public reporting about Iran attempting to get into the conversation. China attempting to get into the conversation. So this effort is probably on a much larger scale than it was in 2016 and in 2020. And there's very little the U.S. government can do to try to edit or block content, nor should they even try. So it's up to Americans to be suspicious and skeptical about some of the stuff that we see on social media. And if you don't see it on a reputable news network like CNN, you have to question its legitimacy and authenticity. And I'm very concerned about that leading up to Tuesday.

BLITZER: I've seen fencing going up for security reasons around the U.S. Capitol, around the White House. I've covered Washington for a long time. I don't remember, or maybe you do, where fencing, major fencing going up outside the Naval Observatory where the vice president of the United States lives together with her husband. Is that pretty extraordinary?

[18:40:08]

JOHNSON: I would say it's extraordinary. We have fortified the vice president's residence in recent years. But as I was saying earlier, she may well be the president-elect by the end of this week, and so I don't consider that to be some sort of emergency situation that is being put in place here. It's just prudence.

BLITZER: It's out of an abundance of caution. What else do you think the Department of Homeland Security, and you used to be the secretary, what else should they be doing now in advance of Tuesday? JOHNSON: I think that CISA in particular under the leadership of Jen

Easterly has been doing a fine job, and I think that CISA along with the FBI, along with DNI, need to call out these efforts by the foreign governments to infiltrate our conversation. Call out the fake images, the false rumors, the alarmist rumors when they can.

The problem, however, is that very often fake news, generative AI can travel a thousand miles before truth can catch up with it, and put the lie to it. And so Americans over the next 48 hours need to be really, really skeptical of some of the stuff that some of these wild accusations that you see on social media from unreliable sources.

BLITZER: What was your reaction today when you heard the former president say that he didn't have a problem if people were shooting through what he calls the fake news media, the reporters who cover presidential elections, who go to rallies, report on what's going on? He doesn't have a problem with shots are fired through them. What was your reaction to that?

JOHNSON: Look, first of all, I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that, but I do believe, and I have been saying this for some time now, Wolf, that those with a public voice, those who command a large audience like Donald Trump need to be aware of the consequences of their actions, the consequences of their words. Though you may not specifically intend violence on a specific person, you have to be aware of the consequences of your actions, and that includes Donald Trump and any of the other major public figure running right now. We need to turn down the rhetoric, turn down the overheated rhetoric. Someone will get hurt.

BLITZER: Yes. That's what's deeply concerning. And for years now, Trump has been saying that the American news media is the enemy of the American people, the enemy of the American people. Very disturbing words from a sitting president and now a former president of the United States.

Jeh Johnson, thank you very much for joining us. Appreciate it very much.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

BLITZER: We're back with our panel. I want to get some reaction to what we just heard from the former secretary of Homeland Security.

What did you think?

SIMMONS: You know, Wolf, I sat with the vice president every day for a year as she went through remarks, as she went out and gave speeches. She would say very often words have meaning. She was a former prosecutor and she knew if she went out in public and said something, that was about somebody's life, that's about a victim's family. If she went out as attorney general and said something about an industry or about a company that could move a market.

She was very responsible about that. That's the kind of leader that Kamala Harris is. I don't know that Donald Trump -- no, scratch that. I know Donald Trump is not that kind of leader. Donald Trump instead says things that are inflammatory all the time. He does not try to calm the waters, he roils the waters. He prides himself for roiling waters. I think voters need to think very seriously about that but we all have to take it seriously as we go into next week about how we keep this country calm and content while we count every vote until we get to a final result.

BLITZER: Do you think Trump will announce -- will declare a victory Tuesday night even before all the votes are counted?

JENNINGS: I have no way of knowing that. I mean, I think their campaign will make the decisions that they think is best for it at the time.

Look, we need to have an election where everybody has confidence in the outcome, period. And that everybody who gets to cast a legal vote should have that vote counted. I hope it doesn't take forever because I do think that undermines confidence in the process when it takes a long time, so I'm hoping for a quick, fair outcome where everybody feels like all the rules were followed.

On the violence thing, he did say -- I agree with a lot of what he said but he did say someone will get hurt. I would just remind everyone someone already did get hurt. Donald Trump got hurt, shot through the ear at a rally and he's the only candidate that I know of that's been injured in this election. So I agree with a lot of those sentiments.

And on the foreign issue, I think he's right. I do think there are foreign actors who would love to meddle in this and confuse people and scramble us against ourselves, and I think vigilance is required.

BLITZER: What do you think?

CARDONA: I think that we need to remember exactly his words that words matter. To your point, Jammal.

[18:45:01]

And Scott, you're right. The former president did get hurt, but it's not the first time. Let's remember Charlottesville. Let's remember January 6th. All of those events ended in tragedy and all of those events. All of those events ended in tragedy and all of those events were spurred on and inspired by the words that came out of the former president's mouth. And --

JENNINGS: How did he inspire Charlottesville?

CARDONA: He went out there and said both sides are, you know, good people.

JENNINGS: But that was after the rallies. You said he caused the rally.

CARDONA: OK. Scott, the worst that the former president says, and you know this. You know, you have that skeptical face but you know -- JENNINGS: Yes, I'm skeptical that he caused Charlottesville.

CARDONA: You know this is true. Yes. I do think he did cause Charlottesville because those people that were --

JENNINGS: Who's causing the rallies on campuses?

CARDONA: Those people that were marching --

JENNINGS: Who's causing the rallies in the streets of New York?

CARDONA: Let me finish. Let me finish. Those people that were marching were marching in support of one person. They were marching in support of Donald Trump. And they were marching in support of what Donald Trump represents.

JENNINGS: I'm sorry, what?

CARDONA: So you can say, you know, try to both sides it with the rallies that are happening on -- that were happening on college campuses. There is no Democratic Party official that was pushing those rallies. OK?

JENNINGS: Uh, OK.

CARDONA: So you're both siding it and let's go back to the words that the former president uses.

Scott, you're a parent. I'm a parent. You're a parent. You're a parent. We're all parents. If our children ever uttered the kinds of words that Donald Trump utters, we would make them take a time-out, we would ground them for years. We would not let them go out in public. We would make them apologize to the people that they speak those words to. So if we cannot hold a grown-up who wants to be president of the United States to the same level that we hold our children, that's a problem.

BLITZER: All right. We got to take a quick break. Our special coverage here in THE SITUATION ROOM will continue right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:13]

BLITZER: The presidential election will not only impact the United States, but the results will have global consequences. We have reporters around the world covering this like only CNN can. CNN's Mike Valerio is in Seoul, South Korea with more on the stakes of this election for the Korean Peninsula.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, for millions of South Koreans, one of the biggest consequences of the U.S. election involves North Korea. Specifically, could the next U.S. president decide to keep the roughly 30,000 American troops here on the Korean Peninsula in part as a security guarantee against North Korea, or could the next U.S. president decide to reduce the number of American troops here on the Korean Peninsula?

Former president Trump has certainly considered doing so in the past. And in 2018 he paused military exercises between South Korea and the United States. Now that pause happened when Trump was negotiating with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over Kim's nuclear program. But under the Biden-Harris administration, military exercises between South Korea and the United States are back.

In fact the Biden-Harris administration takes credit for the formation of a key security partnership between Japan, South Korea and the United States forged in part to counter North Korean threats. So security looming large here as we await the results of the U.S. election -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Mike Valerio, in Seoul, South Korea, thank you very much.

I want to go to CNN's Melissa Bell right now. She's in Paris. She has more on how -- she has more on what the election results potentially could mean for U.S. allies in Europe.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, American elections are always closely watched here in Europe, but this one really like no other. Not only because of the likely economic consequences of a second Donald Trump term given his pledges of tariffs on imported goods and what that would mean for the global economy, but also, from this continent's point of view, for its security. Remember that the last time Donald Trump was president, there had been all this talk in Europe of needing to achieve greater strategic independence.

The fears are now on the continent that that hasn't gone far enough, with the war on Ukraine not helping either. A lot of questions, a lot of attention then on what happens Tuesday in the United States -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Melissa Bell, reporting for us. Thank you, Melissa.

Now to CNN's Larry Madowo in Nairobi, Kenya with more on what people there think of the candidates.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Larry Madowo in Nairobi where a lot of people here in Kenya and across Africa are watching the U.S. election with interest. They know that whoever sits in the White House has an impact even here in Africa. And speaking to people even while I've here on the streets, a lot of them tell me they like Donald Trump. They like that he speaks his mind.

They're aware of his more controversial comments, reportedly having called some African nations (EXPLETIVE DELETED) countries, but they like that they know where they stand with him. And for many religious Africans, as well, they're attracted to his opposition to abortion, to LGBT rights.

Many Africans also know that Kamala Harris has Jamaican heritage, therefore her roots traced back to Africa, but they even know that she's been traveling in Africa as VP, to Ghana, to Zambia and to Tanzania. But there is just this sudden attraction to Donald Trump, the myth of a successful businessman, and that is just another reason why they're more attracted to the candidacy of Donald Trump and they think he'd a better president for Africa.

BLITZER: Our Larry Madowo, thank you very much.

Still ahead, we're tracking potentially very severe weather on election day here in the United States. Which battleground states may see storms and what are the impacts potentially? We'll be right back.

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[18:59:13]

BLITZER: In an election this close, turnout is everything, and turnout can depend on the weather.

CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa is joining us right now.

Elisa, I take it that there could be some storms out there?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Wolf, we've been watching a pretty strong cold front all weekend. And we're looking at those showers and storms still impacting the U.S. on election day. Look at the showers and storms that we're expecting across some of those battleground states in the Great Lakes. We're talking about Wisconsin and Michigan as well. We'll have record warm temperatures in Georgia, in North Carolina, really watching that rain forecast very closely.

Milwaukee with some healthy rain chances as we go through election day. Temperatures in the middle and upper 60s. Same thing in Grand Rapids, look at these rain chances. Pretty healthy. You'll need the umbrellas as you head out to those voting locations.

Now one study shows that if you have about an inch of snow, it can drop that voter turnout by half a percent. One inch of rain will drop it by 1 percent, so something to watch closely -- Wolf.