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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Says "War Hawk" Liz Cheney Should Be "Standing There With Nine Barrels Shooting At Her"; Nikki Haley Absent From Campaign Trail For Trump; Extremely Tight Presidential Race With Four Days Until Election; U.S. Intel Community: "Russia Influence Actors" Are Behind Recent Election Disinformation Videos, Warns More On The Way; Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Is Interviewed About Extremely Tight Presidential Race With Four Days Until Election; Florida Measure Would Lift Ban On Abortions At 6 Weeks; Harris & Trump's Contrasting Worldviews. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired November 01, 2023 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: She has two more tonight. Former President Trump is in Michigan, where we just saw him taking the stage in the city of Warren just moments ago. Overshadowing Trump's campaign, perhaps remarks Trump made himself after these specific comments about former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK? Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.
You know, they're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, oh, gee, Will, let's send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Liz Cheney reacting to Trump's comment by posting on Twitter or X, quote, "This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death," unquote. Amid the backlash, the former president tried to clean up his comments, telling reporters this earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She's a war hawk. She kills people. She wanted to -- even in my administration, she was pushing, and we go to war with everybody. And I said, if you ever gave her a rifle and let her do the fighting, if you ever do that, she wouldn't be doing too well, I will tell you right now. But she's a war hawk.
She wants to go kill people unnecessarily. And if she had to do it herself and she had to face the consequences of battle, she wouldn't be doing it. So it's easy for her to talk, but she wouldn't be doing it. She's actually a disgrace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: CNN's Steve Contorno is with the Trump campaign in Warren, Michigan.
Steve, we're hearing a lot of blowback from Republicans about even covering these remarks. Is the Trump campaign -- do they think they're off message? Is this the closing message they were hoping for? What are they thinking?
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: To that point, Jake, we just spent as a media, as a cohort of press here, spent about 15 minutes getting lectured by Jason Miller, the senior advisor to the Trump campaign, about coverage of these remarks that they believe has been hyperbolic and goes well beyond what Trump actually said yesterday night. And look, Donald Trump started this rally by saying -- asking this crowd, are you better off now than you were four years ago? That is certainly much closer to the message that they would like to be talking about going into the final five days of this election, especially one where they actually have a jobs report that looks like would be unfavorable to Vice President Harris. Just 12,000 new jobs created over the past month. And yet I don't know, I haven't heard Donald Trump mention that yet in these remarks that he has given just now.
And that's the problem they have, a free willing candidate who will say just about anything. If you're not talking about Liz Cheney, do they want their closing message to be RFK Jr.'s being in charge of women's health and promising that he will look at vaccines or attacking Senator Mitch McConnell, which Donald Trump did yesterday, or suing CBS for $10 billion.
So, now we do -- I should point out that this is message being delivered today is in Macomb County, Michigan. This is a county that Donald Trump won with 53 percent of the vote four years ago and he is trying to win it back. This is the second time he is in this very room over just the past month, Jake. Just showing how important this part of Michigan is to his swing state strategy.
TAPPER: All right, Steve, thanks so much. Really appreciate it. Steve Contorno with the Trump campaign in Warren, Michigan.
I want to bring in "New York Times," Maggie Haberman, one of the best source Trump reporters that we have. Ninety percent of what we know about Donald Trump we know because of Maggie.
Maggie, I have to say I'm not sure that, hey, I wasn't literally calling for her to be killed is the strongest closing message. But you know, maybe I'm wrong.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANAYST: Look, he appeared to be making an argument about people who send other citizens or citizen's children into war and don't fight themselves --
TAPPER: Sure. HABERMAN: -- this is an argument that we heard back in the 2000s when Liz Cheney's father was in office as the vice president during the war in Iraq. But he made it in the most violent way possible and in a way that is not really -- or one of the most violent ways possible. And this is not how wars work. People don't go and have nine barrels on their face. So, you know, this is just -- it's another thing that he says they shouldn't be surprised that it's getting coverage.
This is things like, you know, statements that candidates make in the closing days of a race are going to get attention. This is something that I don't think the Trump campaign wants to be dealing with. You can see they're trying to clean it up. He tried to clean it up himself. He posted on Truth Social.
It's just -- it's one other thing that just, you know, potentially could factor into voter's minds as they are making up their final, you know, choice on a ballot, particularly women voters where there's a gap.
TAPPER: Yes. And -- I mean, this comes after J.D. Vance was lecturing Democrats to take the tone down. This comes after Joe Biden made his idiotic comments about Trump supporters being garbage, which he says he didn't mean to be saying. We see how the Trump campaign is doing this.
HABERMAN: Right.
TAPPER: And you heard Steve Contorno say that Jason Miller, the Trump campaign official, was yelling at the media. Are there Trump campaign officials who are worried about the fact that he said this and it could be damaging?
[17:05:10]
HABERMAN: I think the Trump campaign, from everyone I talk to, feels very good about their chances right now. They're pretty confident. I don't -- you know, it doesn't mean that they think that this is an easy slam dunk. They've been pretty careful in certain conversations to note that a lot of these states are very close. But in general, you know that he's in a better position. And Tony Fabrizio, the campaign's pollster said this in a public memo yesterday that he's in a better position in the battlegrounds than he was in his previous two races.
And that's true. Do they want to be dealing with this? No. Do they want to blame their own candidate? Generally, no. It's much easier to blame the media.
TAPPER: Why do you think the Trump campaign still has not brought former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley out on the campaign trail, given that the Harris campaign is making a direct play for Nikki Haley voters?
HABERMAN: It's a good question. And I think there's a couple of reasons. You know, Haley was on Fox the other day saying that she has not spoken to the former president since June, since before the convention. That she -- that they know we're on standby is, I think, what the quote was and just -- it has not worked out for whatever reason. There were discussions about doing some kind of a town hall with Sean Hannity on Fox, as I understood it.
I think it's a few reasons. I don't think Trump wants to. I think Trump doesn't like the sense that he -- the intimation that he needs Nikki Haley's help. There are a lot of people who are very resentful about the race she ran. And look, there were primaries, Indiana is the one I'm thinking of, that was a closed primary where she was off the ballot and she still got a significant segment -- or not off the ballot, but she was out of the race and she still got a significant segment of Republican votes.
So I think it's just fraught. And I think they would like to not, you know, remind people and have people ask all of these questions about what happened with the two. Mostly, Jake, I think this is candidate driven. I don't think he wants to do it.
TAPPER: All right. Maggie Haberman, good to see you. Thank you so much.
We're back with our panel.
HABERMAN: Thanks.
TAPPER: And let me note that Arizona's attorney General Chris Mays was on KPNX, Arizona Station 12 News and said this about Trump's comments about Liz Cheney. He said, quote, "I have already asked my criminal division chief to start looking at that statement, analyzing it for whether it qualifies as a death threat under Arizona's laws," unquote.
Maria, doesn't that kind of undermine it, the potential damaging impact of it? Nobody takes it seriously that that's a death threat. I mean, it might be a horribly stupid thing for a candidate to say, but it's not a death threat for an attorney general to be looking into.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I agree with that. But I do think it underscores just how numb we have become to these kinds of things that people say if some nobody said that, it probably would be investigated as a death threat. And so, I think that what the focus will be are his words. And I think the impact it'll have is what the impact of all of the crazy stuff he has said in the last two weeks has been, which is to alienate the exact group of voters that he needs to win. And I understand, at least from his campaign and Matt will know better, that they think this is a strategy.
They think that this is something that works for them.
TAPPER: To drive up the base.
CARDONA: Yes.
TAPPER: Yes.
CARDONA: And so what that tells me as a strategist, is if they still need at this point, four days before the election to drive up their base, that's not a good sign, when in fact, what they need to be doing is playing addition, and they're not.
TAPPER: Yes.
CARDONA: They're playing subtraction.
TAPPER: Speaking of addition, the campaigns are releasing their final ads in the key battlegrounds. This is a fascinating one. It's an ad that the Harris campaign is airing that features the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro. It's airing in Pennsylvania, of course. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO, (D) PENNSYLVANIA: Are you ready for some common sense? That's why I'm with Kamala. I've known her for two decades. She's practical and she gets stuff done.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As president, I will chart a new way forward and find solutions to create jobs and bring down costs. I will fight for you and your family every day.
SHAPIRO: Pennsylvania, let's not go back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: What do you make of that ad?
MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I mean, just makes me wonder if a few months ago she had chosen Josh Shapiro as her running mate. You know, what position the election would have been in, right? If she wanted Josh Shapiro's support so much, she wanted to insert them into the campaign in Pennsylvania. The easy thing would have been to do, pick them. And we know, you know, she'll say why she didn't.
She'll say why she picked Tim Walz. But a lot of folks suspect that they were very concerned about the reaction from Arab-American voters in Michigan and others who may not like the idea of not having a pro- Israel candidate on the ticket but a Jewish candidate running with her, which is a shame. It's a shame that that's -- if that is true, that would be a shame that that's the case. However, clearly they believe he's a political value in Pennsylvania. That's where, you know, both candidates should be closing out their campaigns.
TAPPER: Yes.
MOWERS: Essentially Kamala Harris is going to be there, I think, three events on Monday in Pennsylvania. And you talk to most folks there right now, it's close. You know, most folks I talked to think Trump's probably up by about a point, but a point is really close. And so they're trying to pull out all the stops in the final few days.
[17:10:03]
TAPPER: What do you say to somebody who looks at that ad and says I get why they're doing it, but, boy, that looks like they're really trying to get Josh Shapiro to, you know, vouch for Kamala Harris as a common sense person. And why do you have to even be doing that in the last few moments of a campaign?
CARDONA: I think it's actually really smart. Josh Shapiro is an incredibly popular governor, not just in Pennsylvania, but across the country. And in fact, Jake, you'll see governors are one -- some of the most popular surrogates in their own states.
I think if she didn't use Josh Shapiro the way that she's doing it, people would wonder, you'd be asking me, Maria, why isn't she using Josh Shapiro four days before the election?
TAPPER: Well, let me put the shoe on the other foot, which is like, well, what if it was Trump with a popular Republican governor and the exact same commercial? And you might be saying, look, he has to have, like a normal person vouch for him. Obviously, it's not the same.
CARDONA: No, in fact, I would actually think that it was --
TAPPER: It was smart?
CARDONA: -- it would be smart because at this point in the game, you want to use anyone's popularity. You're right, I think it -- the numbers say it's close. I don't think it's actually close. I think she's above in Pennsylvania, the Puerto Rican vote, the women's vote, all of it, we'll see on Tuesday. But it is smart for her to use popular governors like Shapiro.
TAPPER: All right. Thanks to both of you. We'll see.
CARDONA: We'll see.
TAPPER: We'll see. I want you guys to put down some money on it so we can -- we -- and we'll film the collection of the bets on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday or Saturday or Sunday or whatever --
CARDONA: Ten thousand.
TAPPER: -- whenever we know. Ten thousand dollars.
MOWERS: All in.
TAPPER: Is that the Mitt Romney bet, $10?
MOWERS: Oh, that's right. Yes, yes.
TAPPER: Old school.
Five battleground states in five days. That was the mission for CNN's John King, who is ending his journey today in the Commonwealth. What he's hearing from voters in Pennsylvania, which could decide the presidency.
Plus, former President Barack Obama's former speechwriter is here. How would Jon Favreau script the final days of the campaign? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:16:07]
TAPPER: In our 2024 lead with Election Day just four days out, CNN's Chief National Correspondent John King has been reporting his special series all over the map, taking his series and his magic wall on the road, hitting five swing states in five days. We brought you so many of those reports and now we end in the best commonwealth in the land.
John, you're in Swarthmore, Delaware County, AKA Delco, one of the collar counties around Philly. What are you hearing from voters that could move the needle one way or the other in either direction?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We'll have the Commonwealth of Massachusetts versus the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania debate after the election. Let's talk about what you talked about, which is in a critical election four days away from now. And I'm in the place that's likely to decide it, the color counties around Philadelphia. This is the biggest of the battlegrounds, 19 electoral votes. This is a dead heat race.
And these counties right around Philly, Jake, you know it well, you grew up here, they decide competitive close races in this commonwealth and they are likely to decide this one as well. So where am I? Let me bring up the map right here. I'm in Delaware County. And you say, well, why is that important?
Joe Biden got nearly 63 percent of the vote there in 2020. And then you move up here and you go to Montgomery County and you say, well, he got 63 percent of the vote there. What's the big deal? And you say -- and then you go to Bucks County. Look, that's close, more competitive.
Joe Biden gets 52 percent. But you see these margins for the Democrats. People say, so why is it important? Well, let me just zoom out. You know, the Commonwealth.
Look at all that red, right? You see all that red? Trump runs it up in the rural parts of the state. So Democrats must match those margins in the fewer places that they went. And in these counties, Joe Biden surpassed what Hillary Clinton did in just these three counties by 76,000 votes.
His margin was bigger than hers over Donald Trump by nearly 80,000 votes, 76,000 votes. How much did he win Pennsylvania by? Look at the top of the screen, 81,000 votes. So these suburban counties are absolutely critical.
And Jake, we're here today, we were here about a week ago. I've been here four times over the last year or so as we come through this state. What do you find here? You find a lot of Democrats, number one. Some of them are a little anxious.
Some of them are hearing echoes of 2016. Some of their friends, they say it's a tiny number, but only takes a tiny number, saying, well, is she ready? Can we have a woman president? But what else do you find here? You find a lot of Nikki Haley voters, 155,000 people in the Commonwealth voted for Haley in the Republican primary long after she was gone from the race. So that's a protest vote.
They want to vote against Donald Trump. Can Kamala Harris win them? We've met some who say, yes, she can win them. So that's the complicated math we're trying to do in the final four days. Where does she lose a little bit?
Where can she gain a little bit? And the bigger -- perhaps better way to look at the question is this way, can Donald Trump run better in the suburbs than he did in 2020? Because the suburbs became his kryptonite when he was president. That's why Republicans lost the 2018 midterms. That's why he lost in 2020.
Can he improve his standing a little bit, get back to 2016? Then, he's in play here in the Commonwealth. If he performs in the suburbs like he did four years ago, Kamala Harris is probably the next president of the United States.
TAPPER: Fascinating stuff. John King, thanks so much.
Let's bring in the host of "Pod Save America," Jon Favreau, who serve as President Obama's speechwriter.
Jon, what does Harris need to do in these final days?
JON FAVREAU, FORMER OBAMA SPEECH WRITER: I think she just needs to -- I think she needs to stay on the message that she delivered when she was at the Ellipse with a very successful speech, huge crowd there. And that message is, you know, Donald Trump has an enemies list, I have a to do list. Let's turn the page on the last decade of all of Donald Trump's, you know, hate and division and fear and then talk about what she's going to do for people, how she's going to work hard to lower costs and fight for people.
TAPPER: So obviously we're covering today what Donald Trump said about Liz Cheney and the very violent imagery he used to make the point he was making about war hawks. But before that we were talking about President Biden's gaffe where he seemed to appear to suggest that Trump supporters are garbage. Right now, career White House staffers we are reporting took issue with how Biden's aides went around altering the transcript of Biden's remarks. This is according to e- mails obtained by the Associated Press. The White House stenographer's offices protocol was not followed when the press office made this change from supporter's to supporter, apostrophe s, without getting supervisor approval.
[17:20:19]
I guess the question I have for you is a more tactical one. Should Biden even be going out on the trail for Harris at this point or is he just like too much of a risk?
FAVREAU: I mean, if I was Joe Biden and I knew -- look, his legacy obviously is at stake in this election and he is the president of the United States, got a lot of work to do as president, I would probably look at the numbers. I would look at the race and say I'm going to focus on being president over the next couple of days. And that's probably the best -- that's the best thing he can do for not just the Harris campaign, but himself and his legacy too.
But look, I think, is this a problem for Joe Biden? Maybe, but is for Kamala Harris, like Kamala Harris, you know, gave a speech as Joe Biden was doing that, talking about how she wanted to reach out to people, reach out to Trump supporters. She reiterated that again the next day when she talked to reporters how important it is not to denigrate Trump supporters. So, I don't -- I actually think it was an opportunity for her that she took to separate herself a little bit from Joe Biden, which she has been, you know, it's -- that's been one of her big challenges. And I think now she can say in this final couple days, look, I am out here trying to fight for every vote and trying to bring people together and sort of end the division in this country and Donald Trump is not and we are going to turn the page on all of that in a couple days.
TAPPER: So, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain kind of message there.
Lastly, how much does any of this matter in the coming days? Because a lot of political professionals think this is really, at this point, it's pretty much baked in who people are going to vote for. And it's all about turnout, targeting the voters that you think are going to support you getting them to vote, getting them to the polls. Or do you think that some of these things could actually make a difference, one or the other, a gaffe here or there?
FAVREAU: Look, I think that the vast majority of the vote is baked at this point, probably 90 something percent. But there's a couple percent in each of these swing states of undecided voters, people who haven't made up their minds yet. And they have probably started tuning in this last week. And you know, Kamala Harris has been on message and Donald Trump has spent a week reminding everyone of the things they don't like about him, whether it's how he treats Latinos, minorities, women. He's out there talking about violent political rhetoric.
There's -- you know, Mike Johnson's talking about repealing the Affordable Care Act. He's talking -- an then just now Donald Trump was out in Dearborn talking about he wants to put RFK in charge of a big public health role which is going to remind people of, you know, Donald Trump mismanaging the last public health crisis we have, and now we're going to put a crank in charge of public health. So, it's just astounding to me that in his last week, and of course he still may win, right, like it's a toss-up race, either of them could win. But I don't know how you can argue that he's closing well because his message right now is not targeted towards anyone who's undecided. And, you know, I've heard David Plouffe saying this, that the undecided even the last week are breaking their way by double digits.
TAPPER: Jon Favreau, good to see you. Thanks so much for joining. Appreciate it.
FAVREAU: Thanks, Jake.
TAPPER: Warnings today that even more disinformation is likely to appear in these final days of the election. Coming up next, I'll ask the man who used to be in charge of fighting off some of these efforts about what you should be on the lookout for.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:28:03]
TAPPER: More in our 2024 lead, U.S. Intelligence officials say that Russian influence actors are behind recent election disinformation videos, and they warn that more fake videos are on the way. They say it's all an effort to erode faith in the U.S. election integrity. Someone who's been ringing the alarm about this for quite some time is the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, Chris Krebs. He had that position in the Trump administration.
So, Chris, thanks for being here. So given the warnings about more fake election videos on the way, do you think the U.S. is well equipped to handle all of this with the election just four days out?
CHRIS KREBS, FORMER DIRECTOR, CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: So this is a partnership between the private sector And the federal government. You have researchers at organizations, companies like Microsoft, as well as the National Security Agency that are on the lookout for identifying and tracking these things and then making the reports, too, for this -- in this case, Georgia. It's a lot harder, though, to disrupt, to stop them. Some of the best tools we have right now are just calling them out, saying what it is, getting information out to the American people, letting them know they're being taken advantage.
TAPPER: So, like when Secretary of State Raffensperger sent that tweet out, that was --
KREBS: Yes.
TAPPER: -- based on information of the --
KREBS: That he received.
TAPPER: Yes.
KREBS: And then as you saw today, the Director of National Intelligence, FBI, insists it put out a statement saying, yes, this was in fact based on their understanding Russia.
TAPPER: And I saw some right wingers, like, responding to that warning as if, like, this was nonsense and partisan.
KREBS: Yes, that's the unfortunate reality that we're living in today is that they've been promoted, they've been effectively deluded into believing that none of this is actually real, that Russia is not a threat, that they're not taking advantage of Americans. And we have to counter that. We really have to step up as a people. I mean, we're Americans, for God's sakes.
TAPPER: Right.
KREBS: Don't let the Russians get in the middle of our election.
TAPPER: Is Russia the top cyber threat right now?
KREBS: Russia, Iran, North Korea, but also ransomware groups. What I'm looking out for next week is denial of service attacks on election related websites, as well as potentially election offices. None of that can affect the vote. The vote's going to be fine. The vote is resilience.
[17:30:03]
We got paper on 98 percent of the votes cast in this upcoming election or the estimates. But a lot of the supporting infrastructure could be targeted.
TAPPER: Is this election going to be even more free and fair and locked down than 2020?
KREBS: I believe so. I think there's been billions of dollars floating in -- flowing in to secure the elections. There's more security. There's more scrutinization. We're going to be good.
TAPPER: So earlier this week, the FBI warned about scammers exploiting the 2024 U.S. general election to perpetrate multiple types of financial fraud schemes. You talked about ransomware, but the FBI said, quote, scammers use the names, images, logos and slogans of candidates to fraudulently solicit campaign contributions and sell merchandise which is never sent to the purchaser or steal victim personally identifiable information that can be used for other fraud. So what can people do to make sure that they're not being scammed like this?
And by the way, I get like about a billion texts a day --
KREBS: It's ridiculous.
TAPPER: -- from people claiming to be Trump or Harris affiliated asking for money. Obviously I don't give them any, but I mean, is that what we're talking about?
KREBS: Ignore that. Right. If you're going to donate, go to the campaign website. Donate directly. Never click through a link on a text message --
TAPPER: Yes.
KREBS: And donate money. Last month, October was National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Big -- big -- big focus here is training people not to click and give money, give information, give your passwords.
TAPPER: Don't click.
KREBS: Yes.
TAPPER: All right, Chris Krebs, thank you so much.
KREBS: Thanks Jake.
TAPPER: Really appreciate it. Good to see you as always.
Who will control Congress after Election Day? I'm going to ask former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, next. Plus, we're going to get her take on Donald Trump's recent comments about Liz Cheney. And we'll get her thoughts on the state of the Harris campaign with just four days to go.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:35:51]
TAPPER: Back with our 2024 Lead, Vice President Kamala Harris reacting this afternoon to her opponent, Donald Trump, who last night called Liz Cheney a radical war hawk and suggested that she be fired upon in order for her to experience what the people she allegedly sends off to war experience. Here is Vice President Harris's response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This must be disqualifying. Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Trump, in a truth social post this afternoon wrote, quote, all I'm saying about Liz Cheney is that she wouldn't have the guts to fight herself. It's easy for her to talk sitting far from where the death scenes take place, but put a gun in her hand and let her go fight, and she'll say, no, thanks, unquote.
Joining us now to discuss the election, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Speaker Pelosi, thanks for joining us. So Vice President Harris says that Trump's comments were disqualifying. Trump says, I'm not calling for violence against her. I'm only saying she's a war hawk. She wouldn't want to fight in war herself. What do you think of it all?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Well, for me, it's personal as well as official. It was two years this week since our home was -- the safety of our home was invaded and also the safety of my husband was compromised was assault -- a deadly assault on him, which fortunately he -- he -- he survived.
But the man coming into our home was saying, where is Nancy? Where is Nancy? Echoing what was happening on January 6th, which former President Donald Trump called a day of love in the Capitol. Political violence has no place in our democratic society. Politics is the peaceful resolution of conflict.
For the president of the United States to say what he, a former president and somebody who aspires to be president should again, I agree with Kamala Harris completely dis -- should disqualify him. It should disqualify him from ever be -- being invited to your home.
Would you want your daughter to marry somebody who said something like that? Would you want your children to imitate somebody who says something like that? So from a personal standpoint, from an official standpoint, from a patriotic standpoint, from the sanctity of our elections, to free it of this political violence, he must stop. He know -- he has no shame.
But the other part of this is it has a chilling effect on people speaking their mind if they're going to be threatened with violence to them or to their families.
TAPPER: Well, and -- and he -- he only -- he isn't only going after Liz Cheney. He repeatedly referred to you when he explained who he thought the enemy within was. At the -- at one point, when asked to clarify, he said the Pelosi's, you know, these people are so sick.
Obviously Pelosi's plural would suggest that he's talking about not only you, but your husband, Paul, who was attacked two years ago. And -- and this week we should note the man who brutally attacked your husband has been given a life sentence without the possibility of parole. So what was your reaction when he said that you were part of the -- you and Paul were part of the enemy within?
PELOSI: Well, nothing is surprising coming from him. But you have to remember when Paul was attacked, before we even knew if he was dead or alive, what's his name was making a joke of it on the social media. He and his children and the Rekha Godbole (ph) and governor of Virginia, and the -- Elon Musk, they were making a joke of it and they thought that was funny.
So there's something sick about all of this. But you know what? We don't agonize. We organize. We just have to win this election. And every day that he says something like this in these last days when people are really keenly aware and paying attention, works in the favor of Kamala Harris of the -- of -- those who are breaking from the undecided are breaking overwhelmingly for her.
TAPPER: Why do you think this election so close?
PELOSI: Well, I could never understand how anybody would vote for somebody so disrespectful of women, so unpatriotic, who speaks with disdain and -- and negativity about John McCain and George Herbert Walker Bush and our men and women in uniform who've given their lives for our country and the rest. I don't know why anybody would be for him.
[17:40:09]
But nonetheless a respectful fact that they are voters and -- and they have their right to their opinion. I -- I don't know that it is close because elections are close. Look back at all the elections of recent time, they're close. And I can just tell you because I've been in a different city every day, different, yesterday, two cities in one state, Arizona. The enthusiasm on the ground is enormous.
You know, I'm a former chair of the party. I believe win the election, you must own the ground. You must get out the vote. You must call, you must text -- text, you must door knock, text -- you must door knock, you must walk precincts. And that's what we see overwhelmingly.
Hundreds of people I was with in Nevada on Saturday walking precincts in Marshall County, not particularly a Democratic area, but nonetheless getting out every possible vote. Others were in Las Vegas where it's a little bit easier, but nonetheless just understanding. There are only three things. Mobilization, own the ground, message, unifying and bold and progressive if you wish, but not menacing, unifying, and the money to get the job done.
TAPPER: So --
PELOSI: The money is in, the messaging I couldn't be prouder of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. And -- and now we're making sure we get out the vote to win the House. That's part of my mission.
TAPPER: Right, right.
PELOSI: And of course, to help win the Senate, the gov -- gubernatorial races, and to elect Kamala Harris, President of the United States.
TAPPER: So let's -- let's -- let's talk about mobilization in -- in Michigan, because in Michigan, Vice President Harris is in something of a precarious place, at least in part because of the Biden administration's Israel policy. It's an issue that could make or break the key battleground state of Michigan, a number of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans are talking about not voting for her as a protest because of the Biden-Harris policy.
That includes, by the way, Palestinian American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat who has not officially publicly endorsed Kamala Harris. What are your thoughts on that?
PELOSI: Well, what I would say is the Democrat, the President Biden and Kamala Harris and many of us have always been for a two state solution. We all came to the defense of the Muslim American community when what's his name, one of his first acts of -- of being president of the United States was to have a Muslim ban.
In terms of the people of Gaza, if they think that Trump is a good alternative to them, they're not paying attention to what he is saying. So with all due respect for them and the concern that they have, and we all have concern about the collateral damage to civilians in Gaza, not -- no -- that's a horrible thing. War should be, in my view, out -- outlawed and shouldn't be a way to resolve conflict. But nonetheless, I would hope that they would weigh the equities.
We deeply are concerned about the loss of life, but we also want a two state solution, which is not where the person that they might benefit by not voting refuses to go. Netanyahu and he are, you know, on the same page in that regard. But in any event, we don't agonize. We organize. God bless them for their interest in public service. And -- and whether they vote or not, one way they vote or not, we just have to make sure that our votes are in, that our votes are in. And that people are not -- and mis --misinformation has been one of the villains of democracy in this campaign -- in this thing.
I don't call that misinformation. It's just a difference of opinion. But misinformation with that and how they are characterizing one aspect of the campaign or the other is something that must be stopped as well. And I thank you for the attention you paid to it.
TAPPER: So let me just ask you, before you go quickly, if you can, who's going to win the House?
PELOSI: How -- the Democrats are going to win the House. Hakeem Jeffries will be the speaker of the House. He must be the speaker of the House he -- on January 6th. He must have that gavel, just as I had the gavel three and a half years ago, says she, and modestly. But the fact is -- is that when they were telling me, you're going to have to have the vote on the Electoral College in an undisclosed location with members bussed in, I said, no, we're not.
We're going to the House floor so the world -- the map -- people of America and the world can see that democ -- democracy has prevailed and they have failed with their violent insurrection incited by the President of the United States, who calls that day of violence a day of love.
And so Hakeem must have the gavel in order to also have the votes to accept, to remove all doubt that we will accept the results, whatever they are, of the presidential election and for many other reasons about the well-being of our children, the safety of our planet, the security of our neighborhoods every -- for every reason --
[17:45:02]
TAPPER: Former House Speaker --
PELOSI: -- that would great. And I -- I -- I feel pretty certain that that will happen. We are only four short. I want more than that.
TAPPER: Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, thanks so much. Good to see you.
PELOSI: Just win, baby. That's our motto.
TAPPER: All right. It's not just political offices on the ballots, of course. Voters in 10 states are also deciding measures on abortion access. We're taking a look at one of those measures in one key state and exactly what it would mean.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In our 2024 Lead, abortion access and legality is on the ballots in 10 states. As CNN's Randi Kaye reports in Florida, the measure would impact the state's ability to enforce a ban before fetal viability. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Amendment 4, this is a -- a -- a intentional deception on the public.
RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Florida Governor Ron DeSantis amping up his rhetoric against Florida's abortion amendment, known as Amendment 4.
[17:50:02]
DESANTIS: When you're dealing with constitutional amendments, your default should always be no.
KAYE (voice-over): Amendment 4, if approved, would do away with Florida's current six-week abortion ban signed into law by DeSantis and enshrined the right to an abortion before viability in the state constitution.
LAUREN BRENZEL, CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR, YES ON 4 FLORIDA CAMPAIGN: It's incredibly unfortunate in the state of Florida to see taxpayer resources wasted on a political campaign.
KAYE (voice-over): DeSantis has brought the full force of his office and state agencies to defeat Amendment 4 and the state appears to be spending millions in taxpayer dollars to do so.
JASON GARCIA, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST AND INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: This is the government that is supposed to be administering these elections, not putting its thumb on the scale.
KAYE (voice-over): Independent journalist, Jason Garcia, has been working to connect the dots on the state spending.
GARCIA: It appears that the DeSantis administration is spending more than $19 million of taxpayer money. Much of that spending appears to be specifically related to Amendment 4. But what ultimately they are funding is a massive television advertising campaign.
KAYE (voice-over): Based on the timing and subject matter of the purchase orders in a state database, there is every indication that taxpayer dollars were used. But DeSantis's office has refused to answer reporters specific questions, including ours, about the money spent.
Last month, Floridians Protecting Freedom, the organization running the Yes on 4 Campaign, filed a lawsuit against the state, accusing Florida's Agency for Healthcare Administration of launching a state- run taxpayer funded website proclaiming that proponents of Amendment 4 are telling lies. The group also accuses the state of using taxpayer money to buy T.V. advertisements like this one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Florida law puts women's health and safety first.
KAYE (voice-over): The state has also spent money sending cease and desist letters to T.V. stations that ran commercials encouraging Floridians to vote yes on Amendment 4.
CAROLINE, TAMPA, FL: The doctors knew if I did not end my pregnancy I would lose my baby, I would lose my life.
KAYE (voice-over): The letters were signed by the general counsel for the Department of Health. According to this signed affidavit, he resigned after he was pressured to send more letters suggesting the stations could face charges. Letters he said were written by lawyers working for DeSantis. A judge has since blocked Florida's Health Department from threatening T.V. stations any further over the ads.
BRENZEL: We certainly shouldn't be using state resources to threaten T.V. stations from airing the stories of women who need to access abortion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE (on camera): And Jake, DeSantis's office ignored our questions about this money spent. But a spokesperson did give a statement to "Politico" and that reads in part, state agencies have the authority and dedicated funding to educate the public on important issues, especially those that impact the health and safety of women and children. And Jake it is worth noting that this amendment needs 60 percent support in order to pass.
TAPPER: All right, Randy Kaye in Sarasota, Florida, thanks so much for that.
Coming up next, a closer look at how Harris and Trump see the United States on, excuse me, United States on the world stage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:57:19]
TAPPER: You may have noticed this election comes amid global tensions, wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, and concern about North Korea, China's ambition. CNN's Kylie Atwood has a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world is watching knowing that former President Trump and Vice President Harris would carry out entirely different foreign policies. Trump's driving ethos as America first and swiftly bringing wars to an end with no clear strategy on how to do so.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I will end the war in Ukraine. I will stop the chaos in the Middle East. And I will prevent World War III from happening.
ATWOOD (voice-over): For Harris, it's embracing U.S. Allies.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States cannot and should not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. ATWOOD (voice-over): Often proclaiming that he was the most pro-Israel president ever, Trump has promised to back Israel in the ongoing conflicts.
TRUMP: We're going to take care of Israel and they know that.
ATWOOD (voice-over): While also indicating he would not give the U.S. ally a long leash.
TRUMP: Get your victory and get it over with. It has to stop. The killing has to stop.
ATWOOD (voice-over): But what a solution might look like remains elusive. Meanwhile, Harris is in favor of a two-state solution, despite repeatedly highlighting the horrific civilian death toll in Gaza and calling for a ceasefire.
HARRIS: We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.
ATWOOD (voice-over): She has not indicated that she would break from the Biden administration's continued support for Israel, including the flow of U.S. weapons.
HARRIS: I have had an unwavering commitment to the existence of the State of Israel, to its security and to the people of Israel.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Another closely watched issue is Russia's war in Ukraine. Harris's Ukraine position may be scant on details, but clear on the overall objective.
HARRIS: I will continue to stand with Ukraine and I will work to ensure Ukraine prevails in this war.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Trump is less clear. He has promised to negotiate an end to the war within 24 hours of taking office, but has offered no clarity on what that could mean for Ukraine's territorial integrity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe it's in the U.S. best interests for Ukraine to win this war? Yes or no?
TRUMP: I think it's the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Pivoting to China, America's greatest global competitor, Trump's plan is essentially one word.
TRUMP: The most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Trump said he will enact 60 percent tariffs on all imported goods from the country and suggested that he would be willing to go even further than that, particularly if China invaded Taiwan, floating 200 percent tariffs.
Meanwhile, Harris has generally committed to invest in American innovation to tackle the threats that China poses. HARRIS: My plan also invests in American manufacturing and innovation because I will make sure America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[18:00:09]
ATWOOD (on camera): Now, Jake, when you talk to U.S. allies, of course, they are incredibly concerned about what Trump's foreign policies would mean for their relationships with the United States. But they also have questions about what Harris's policies would actually look like given she hasn't differentiated herself so much from the Biden administration to date. Jake?
TAPPER: Not at all. Kylie Atwood, thanks so much. The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. I will see you Monday morning.
