Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Nikki Haley: "Are You Trying To Lose An Election?"; New CNN Poll: Harris Has Now Double Digit Lead Over Trump Among Women; Trump's Failed Promises Weigh On Workers 42 Days To Election; Evacuations Underway As Florida Braces For Major Hurricane. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired September 24, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:45]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Trump vows to make women great again, insisting if he wins women will no longer feel abandoned, lonely are scared -- his words. This as Nikki Haley calls out her own party for botching it.
Plus, game over. Trump's plan to make it easier to beat Harris just shut down. And the Republican who stood up to his own party over this is OUTFRONT.
And breaking news from KFILE, the team that exposed Mark Robinson's talk of being a black Nazi and a quote, perv is back with more tonight. Trump ditched Robinson to save himself in North Carolina.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight: are you trying to lose this election? That is the question, the exact words that Nikki Haley is asking tonight. She's talking about what the Ohio Republican Senate candidate is saying about women and abortion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE MORENO (R), OHIO U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Sadly, by the way, there's a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, listen, abortion is it. If I can't have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else.
Okay. A little crazy, by the way -- but -- especially for women that are like past 50. I'm thinking to myself, I don't think that's an issue for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, it doesn't take much thought. You realize that those words are at the least insulting. And the problem doesn't seem to stop with would-be Senator Bernie Moreno. A new CNN poll tonight shows Vice President Kamala Harris pulling away from former President Trump when it comes to support among women. Fifty-three percent now back Harris, 43 percent back Trump.
Now, given that at all the polling right now indicates that this is the closest race of the century. That gap could make all the difference. You want to pull up that number among woman a bit or two, which is why Trump is rolling out a new pitch to try to win over female voters. Voters that he seemed to acknowledge do not right now, support him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He will no longer be abandoned, lonely, or scared. You will no longer be in danger. You're not going to be in danger any longer. You will no longer have anxiety from all of the problems our country has today. You will be protected and I will be your protector. Women --
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: You will longer be thinking about abortion.
I always thought women like me. I never thought I had a problem.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But the fake news keeps saying women don't like me. I don't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, right. Well, let's just start where he finished, the fake news. He never thought he had a problem, 58 percent of women voted against Trump in 2020, 59 percent voted against him in 2016. That's a math problem. There's nothing subjective about it.
So, sure, there may be women who don't feel demeaned or insulted by Trump saying, quote, you will be protected and I will be your protector. Or they may not care. But the ones who do turn into cold, hard votes.
So when Bernie Moreno says this about abortion --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORENO: OK, a little crazy, by the way, but especially for women that are, like, past 50, I'm thinking to myself, I don't think that's an issue for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And when Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders says --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS (R), ARKANSAS: My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And when Trump's vice presidential nominee says this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All that just might be adding up. And when Taylor Swift endorsed Harris and signed her post, quote, childless cat lady, Trump's response in all caps, I hate Taylor Swift, exclamation point.
That just might be adding up. So even though 41 percent of women voted for Trump in 2016 and 42 percent in 2020, knowing this --
[19:05:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
BILLY BUSH, TV HOST: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab 'em by the (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It does make you scratch your head in 2024 to think why insulting women without children or who happened to be over 50 is in any way, shape, or form smart politics for the GOP.
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT live in Cumming, Georgia.
So, you know, Jeff, how is the Harris campaign reacting to all of this? You hear what Nikki Haley's saying. What is Harris saying?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Erin, right here in battleground Georgia, Vice President Harris put it pretty a bluntly, just last Friday. She said, how dare they? And talking to advisers throughout the day as these comments have been coming in, the responses much the same.
One adviser says, women know better, and another says women will vote like their lives depend upon it in November.
Look, the Harris campaign has been watching these comments from the former president with great interest and look for them likely in a television commercial coming to battleground states soon. They believe these comments helps the Harris campaign and makes this central argument here about how he talks about women. Now, of course, this is the former president's third presidential campaign but it's different in one big respect. That is because of course it's the first presidential campaign since the Supreme Court, his Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade.
So that is hanging over this campaign in its entirety. That is what is different here. But the gender gap that you mentioned before, so interesting on independent women, it's even bigger, but among white women, Vice President Harris is only down three points. Biden lost him by 11 points.
So that sets the table here for the next six weeks of this conversation, there's no doubt now the former president has an audience amongst some women largely non college educated women. It is not always on those dividing lines, but that is basically how it breaks down.
But look, the Harris campaign is going to double down on these, watch this very carefully and use it as essential argument for them going forward here.
So, Erin, for all this similarities in this campaign, again, this is the first presidential election since Dobbs, that is what's different. And that is what we have our eye on here in battlegrounds like Georgia and others across the country -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
And everyone is here with me tonight.
Kate, let me just start with you. When Trump says to women, I will be protect -- your protector, you will no longer be scared, anxious. The other things that he said there, and says he never thought he had a problem with women. Your response to that?
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's patronizing. It's a little creepy. It's also -- I think he does not seem to understand and the Republican Party across the board doesn't seem to understand why they have a problem with women.
I mean, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, they talk about women like they don't know any women, like they talk about women like women or this other, this kind of foreign object, they don't talk about women like their human and, you know, you constantly hear them degrading women, suggesting that women over the age of 50 shouldn't, don't have any stake in some of these policy decisions.
They don't seem to understand that the policies are putting forward, take freedoms away from women, women across the board are motivated by that. Their concerned about that and nothing that these guys are saying assuaging any of those concerns. It's a really, really bizarre electoral strategy when they're running so far behind with women across the board.
Erin, Nikki Haley says, are you trying to lose this election as she is speaking specifically about what Bernie Moreno said. But do you have moments where you wonder the same thing? I mean, what is the point of comments like Bernie Moreno made or Trump's making to women if the goal is to try to increase the number of that you want to vote for you?
ERIN PERRINE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yeah, I agree with Kate. It's a bit of a head-scratcher that this is the line of attack that Donald Trump and Bernie Moreno are taking. Anytime we're not talking about the economy and immigration Republicans are losing.
And since the Dobbs decision and this is something as a Republican woman, I have seen time and again, Republicans have so struggled to be able to give the American people and the voting woman bloc public two answers. One, where do you stand at the state level about what you believe the term should be on abortion? You need to put down a definitive marker or the left is going to go ahead and define that for you.
And two, the easy answer for Republicans across the board when it comes access to health care for women, if a woman is having a miscarriage and bleeding out, that's not a question. That shouldn't be a question in the 21st century, and it should not be a question for the Republican Party.
And the fact that we have elected officials and people running for office in the Republican Party who can't state the obvious truth about access to health care when a woman needs are life saved boggles my mind. And I'm getting a little animated here because it actually flabbergasted me that Republicans can't speak the truth on this.
We're already seeing women shifted demographically more towards Democrats. If Republicans want to see a generational shift of women away from the Republican Party, we're doing a pretty good job on it right now.
BURNETT: Harry, what are you seeing in the numbers? I mean, you hear Erin's passion.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I hear that passion and what I see and she's talking about a generation, right? Are the new generation that's coming up, look at the explosion in the gender gap among younger Americans. Look at this -- age 18 to 29, this in the key battleground states, of course, they're going to determine this election.
Look at this, men voters between ages 18 and 29, look at that, favored Trump by 10. Look at that, look at that, look at, look at that margin among women voters, Harris by 38 points.
We can do some quick math here. That is a 48 point gender gap. My goodness, gracious. You do not see that across the overall electorate. We are seeing women inquiry recently becoming more Democratic as you go lower down into that age spectrum.
And so the women who are coming of age now are becoming much more Democratic than their older counterparts, but there is one little sort of twist to this that I want to introduce, right? When we're talking about the gender gap, when we're talking about female voters going for Kamala Harris, I want you to look among married women and unmarried women.
And you can see here, among married women, its basically even, right? Trump by a point. But look among unmarried women, look at that -- Kamala Harris up by 21 points among unmarried women. That is the group I believe that could determine this election, could deliver the election of Kamala Harris, which is not much of a surprise given all the comments coming from Republican.
BURNETT: Well, childless cat ladies and very clearly saying what your value is, as Sarah Huckabee Sanders did is about whether you have children.
Kate, are you surprised when you hear the passion with which Erin is talking to her own party and saying, you know, its almost as if Erin, you're banging the table saying, please, listen to me.
BEDINGFIELD: I'm not surprised that. She was quite eloquent and moving. I'm not surprised because I think women across the board, especially younger women, are flabbergasted by where the Republican Party is on this. And I think when you look at what post the fall of Dobbs, you've seen Republicans go in on this line of attack against women who don't have children.
You've also seen very real policy impacts since Dobbs fell, not just the inability of a woman who has Erin movingly said, a woman who was bleeding out from a miscarriage being unable to get medical care. You also see families who are trying to access IVF. You're seeing that come under -- you know, families are not having that same access as a result of the Dobbs decision.
So, you know, I would imagine, I'm obviously not a Republican, but I imagined for Republicans and particularly Republican women, yeah, of course, this is incredibly frustrating because ultimately this is about denying women choice. It's about denying them freedom. It's about denying them health care.
And that I'm sure is maddening for Republicans, but this does Donald Trump's Republican Party. These are three, it was three justices he put on the Supreme Court, who brought Roe down, and so, that's where the Republican Party is today.
So, now, there's a question though, and this is where all of a sudden there's backlash in the Democratic Party from both Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, you know, whatever wing of the party you think they represent. And, obviously, one of them is not technically a Democrat now, but today, Harris reiterated her support for eliminating the filibuster in order to overturn Roe versus Wade.
So, Joe Manchin, now independent had signaled he was ready to endorse Harris earlier this month. But then once she said that today, he said this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) SEN. JOE MANCHIN (I-WV): Shame on her.
REPORTER: So, I know that you've been considering endorsing her. Does this changre your view?
MANCHIN: Oh, no, that ain't going to happen.
REPORTER: You're not going to endorse her?
MANCHIN: I'm not endorsing here. Never. I think that's basically something that could destroy our country and my country is more important to me than any one person or any one person's ideology.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: And then I mentioned Kyrsten Sinema also now an independent. She tweeted to say, the supremely obvious, eliminating the filibuster to codify Roe versus Wade also enables a future Congress to ban all abortion nationwide. What an absolutely terrible shortsighted idea.
Erin, when you saw their response to Harris saying, okay, get rid of the filibuster to restore Roe versus Wade. What did you think? Is there an opening for the GOP on this or is it just too fraught of an issue?
PERRINE: This is definitely a tough issue for Republicans, but the answers are easy if were just willing to speak the truth on it. And I -- I applaud Manchin and Sinema on this because I was a Senate staffer, I was a House staffer. I was there in the era of Harry Reid when he when he blew up the filibuster to be able to get through judicial nominees and now, they're talking about doing it on the legislative calendar.
The Senate sits on two calendars. The executive where they do nominations, the legislative, were they do bills. We've only -- so far the Senate has only managed to blow up the filibuster on one side and keep it on the legislative side.
This would actually be a massive change in the direction of our country to end the filibuster on the legislative calendar. What that does would make the Senate, the House, and back in the founding of our country, they used to call the Senate the cooling saucer to the hot cup of tea. That was the House of Representatives.
It gives more time and deliberation on each measure before it gets to the presidents desk than it does in the House. So I applaud both of them because eliminating the filibuster to try and address abortion rights and access in the United States, it's not the way to do it because on the flip side, if Republicans are at the helm gosh knows what either party would do with no filibuster.
[19:15:11]
BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, it is done. It comes to free for all and then policies keep switching whiplash. Now, Harry, one other thing that I mentioned at the top of the show
that I wanted to I know you've had a chance to look into, and that was the Taylor Swift --
ENTEN: Yeah.
BURNETT: -- brouhaha with Trump when she endorsed Harris, signed childless cat lady, and he responded, I hate Taylor Swift, in all caps, adding an exclamation point, I suppose for poetic effects.
ENTEN: Of course.
BURNETT: Okay. So what is the Swift factor?
ENTEN: Yeah, I -- look, I think abortion will make a big difference come this election, right? I think a lot of people are powered fire right up about abortion. I don't think there many voters who are fired up about Taylor Swift one way or another. And you can see that in the polling.
Quinnipiac had a great poll today, essentially asking what is the effect of the Taylor Swift endorsement on Kamala -- for Kamala Harris on the election. Look at that. No difference in your vote. The vast majority, 76 percent less enthusiastic about Harris --
BURNETT: Wow, more than more and -- more than more enthusiastic.
ENTEN: Exactly -- exactly right. I think that's Republicans rallying to Donald Trump. I think most of the folks who like Taylor Swift are going to vote for Kamala Harris anyway.
BURNETT: Right. Well, that is an interesting, you know, look at just a data point, but interesting nonetheless.
Kate, Erin, Harry, thank you all very much. I appreciate it.
And next, Trump's plan to change the Nebraska law to try to win that one more electoral vote, right? Which they are passed to 270, where it all comes down to that one vote in Nebraska.
But it is all but dead tonight. And the Republican who is responsible is my guest. Why did he do it?
Plus, breaking news, Republicans quickly trying to erase any ties to the Republican candidate for North Carolina Governor Mark Robinson. But our KFILE has more details. Our KFILE, of course, uncovering the posts and pictures, they don't want anyone to see.
And our new series "Show Me the Money" debuts tonight with our Phil Mattingly traveling to five battleground states. Tonight in this special series, he talks to autoworkers who had their lives totally upended when their plans suddenly closed under Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were divorces because of it. Families were ripped apart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So how do they feel about Trump now?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:21:36]
BURNETT: Tonight, Republican dreams dashed. The Trump-backed plan to change how Nebraska awards its Electoral College votes is all but dead. The governor of the state announcing he's no longer calling for a special session to vote on the change. It comes after my next guest, Republican State Senator Mike McDonalds said he wouldn't go along with the last-ditch effort.
Now, Trump is calling McDonald, quote, a grand standarder. Tim Walz is praising McDonalds saying, quote, thank God for that one guy out in Omaha.
Well, why all this attention? It is because everything could come down to this. McDonald's decision could have a massive impact on the election. Trump and his allies wanted Nebraska to award its five electoral votes on a winner take all basis because right now, they're split and when they're split, it really comes down to one vote.
Let me just show you the map to explain the blue dot that you see there in a sea of red, its congressional district and it is Omaha. It has gone for Obama and Biden in recent elections. The rest of the state votes reliably Republican.
So in a presidential race, as close as this one may be, that single Electoral College vote in Nebraska could be what decides who wins and who loses. John King can lay it out for you. You literally get to a point where that one vote could be what it comes down to.
So OUTFRONT now, Nebraska State Senator Mike McDonnell.
And Senator McDonnell, I very much appreciate your time, and as I said, the commercial break to you, and I want everyone to know your decision to speak out and have everyone understand exactly what's going on here and your thinking.
So, can you explain why you believe the state should not change its election law right now?
MIKE MCDONNELL (R), NEBRASKA STATE SENATE: Good evening and thanks for the invitation. And I just want to start off by thanking all the people that have reached out to me on both sides over the last week or so. And again, 90 percent of them have been polite and professional and passionate, of course, about making their arguments on why we should go back to winner take all or stay with our current system.
So I appreciate that. And back in '16 when I first ran for the legislature and, you know, Nebraska, we are unique. We have the only one house system in the country. I had said I was opposed to change in the winner-take-all, which was put in place in Nebraska in 1991, first presidential election was '92.
Following Maine who change there's in 1969 and I said the reason is, it's people talk about the blue dot, red dot. It was more about, you know, the idea of the green dot being relevant as a city of Omaha where the second congressional district to is, and also the idea of the economy.
It brings in $1 into our economy, but also its sending the message come work for our vote come in and come talk to us, and in Omaha and work for it. So, that's been my consistent position since I was elected in 16, started serving in 17, always willing to listen to people, try to understand their viewpoint, but sometimes I think people say, you know, Nebraska nice and they look at that as a weakness. It's not.
We work extremely hard. We play by the rules. So we're inviting everybody in to come in, play by the rules, work hard. We have both campaigns going strong in the second congressional district, and I think that's great for democracy.
I also think that President Trump and I think Vice President Harris should come in and have a debate in Omaha and fight. You know, sometimes it's the blue dot, red dot. I talked about the green dot. Let's fight for the dot. So --
BURNETT: Well, you know, I think it's interesting as you laid out, right? You're not making the point that, oh, it's about how much time is left and all that sort of thing. It's actually a much more macro principled point of view that you have about democracy and the role of your state.
[19:25:05]
So I think it's important people understand that. The thing is though you talk about the --
MCDONNELL: Well, the other part is the fairness though. The other part is if you look at -- because I've had that discussion that we've talked about midterm, where if you, if people want to change it and go back to winner-take-all, let the people in Nebraska vote, but then anyone running for president has a two-year notice. Hey, things have changed even though I would be opposed to changing going back to winner take all, I'd let the people of Nebraska vote, but you're talking about 42 days before an election.
BURNETT: Yeah.
MCDONNELL: No, that is -- that is not fair.
BURNETT: So --
MCDONNELL: And I've compared it to a football game where there's two minutes left in the whole football game, you would call a time-out the coach and say, hey, ref, can we change the value of field goal from three points to four points? That's just not fair and that's a game. We're talking about the president of the United States and letting the people making a decision, not 33 elected officials.
BURNETT: So, you know, Trump has called you a grandstander after you did this decision. And there were reports that you had been trying to find a way to yes. From what you just laid out to me, I did not hear that, but there were reports. Now, he's calling you a grandstander.
I'm curious, Senator, did he ever reach out to you personally to talk to you about this, Trump?
MCDONNELL: Well, no, talking about the grandstanding --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: But, yeah, did he reach out to you to talk about your view on this issue? I mean, everyone knew you were the vote.
MCDONNELL: You are breaking up a little bit. My position for the last eight years, I don't talk about conversations I have with people, but back to the grandstanding, this is the first day I've talked to anyone from the media. And again, the idea of listening to people and trying to understand their viewpoint, you know, I've been know and consistent since 2016, but I'm always willing to listen to people and try to get all the facts on the table.
And that's what I've been doing. And as I said, you know, thousands of emails have come in and phone calls. And again, we've talked to my fellow colleagues the other 48 senators, as I mentioned earlier, were the only one house type government and the country. The stake I ran, I think, everyone should take a look at that and then look at it following us without we do things like also Maine and look at having this way of the land in 435 congressional districts.
BURNETT: Well, I'm sure you certainly don't consider yourself to be a grandstander, to state the obvious, and you've been very considered and careful in the way you've shared your view here.
But I'm curious when you look at Nebraska without the change in the law, Senator, do you think that Trump could win Omaha outright on his own?
MCDONNELL: Well, look what happened -- look what happened in 2016. That's what's special about Nebraska and the second congressional district. In 2016, President Trump won, in 2020, President Biden won. And you go back, President Obama won. We hadn't had a Democrat win in Nebraska prior to the change of this law back to LBJ in 1964, but it's actually done what we asked -- we thought it would and I wasn't part of it in 1991.
But it makes us relevant. It makes people come and spend dollars and it also makes some work for the vote and you've seen that where again, President Trump won all five Electoral College votes and then we had President Obama win and President Biden win one vote in 2020.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Senator McDonnell, I appreciate your time. Thank you for sharing all of this with us. I appreciate it.
MCDONNELL: I appreciate the invitation. Thank you.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you.
And next, we have breaking news from KFILE, finding Republicans are frantically deleting some specific posts supporting Mark Robinson, the Republican -- the Republican who is running for governor of North Carolina. We're going to show you what they tried to delete, did not want you to see.
Also breaking, Trump's alleged golf course shooter has just been officially charged with attempted assassination. And you are looking at your screen at the judge who will oversee the case. Yes, that is Aileen Cannon, who is also overseeing Trump's classified documents case. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:46]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Republican North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis with a warning for his own party after CNN's KFILE unearth dozens of disturbing comments that the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson, made on a pornography forum. The post include Robinson calling himself a, quote, black Nazi, defending slavery, saying he liked watching transgender porn, adding quote, that's effing hot and calling himself a perv.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I believe that Mr. Robinson needs to make a call fairly quickly, defend his name or -- in the absence of a defense, then we've got to move on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp already withdrawing his support.
Donald Trump, though, who prior to this, called Robinson "Martin Luther King Jr. on steroids" and said he was a candidate to be cherished, has not denounced Robinson. J.D. Vance also has not denounced Robinson.
KFILE is back with me tonight with more breaking news on this story and the fallout that continues from KFILE's reporting.
So what are you finding out tonight?
ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN'S KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: Yeah, that's right. The fallout is continuing following our story. We are now seeing candidates and GOP organizations across the country running away from Robinson investigation from our team found deleted tweets, deleted photos. These are from candidates who previously appeared and posted that they were with Robinson.
We are seeing canceled events. People who are withdrawing funds -- withdrawing endorsements as we just mentioned. We've seen some candidates erase endorsements from their page and halt some groups which have halted fundraising or advertising on Robinson's behalf.
I want to run through some of the folks who have deleted some of their photos. They're all North Carolina based.
One of them is U.S. House candidate Laurie Buckhout, another is state senator Lisa Barnes. Bill Ward, he's running for state representative. Dave Bullock who's running for state auditor, and State Senator Stacey Magen (ph).
Now, what is really interesting about Buckhout deleting her tweets is this is actually very important race. This is a swing district in North Carolina, in which she is running to get rid of an incoming Democratic Congressman.
She's deleted it least nine photos with Robinson.
[19:30:01]
BURNETT: Her with Robinson, yes.
KACZYNSKI: And two tweets right there that people can see.
She also deleted a post in which she referred to them as North Carolina's next governor. So she is just scrubbed basically any mention of Robinson off over social media.
BURNETT: It's amazing, right, just to get those off as quickly as possible. So some individuals may not yet have said what they think, but we can see what they think.
And I know the fallout doesn't stop there. You know, you've been reporting on the money that is completely stopped. You were reporting on the Republican governors association cutting off all funding for Robinson. You know, what are -- what kind of events now are you seeing being canceled?
KACZYNSKI: Well, that's right. It's not just money coming into Robinson. It's Robinson appearing as a speaker on the behalf of other groups, other groups now seeing Robinson after our story, as somewhat toxic, including just a few of them.
I want people to look at one of them is a Chicago fundraiser for the Trump-Vance meeting. This is actually list of Robinsons events that he previously had that we just saw that was events before.
BURNETT: The page went completely blanked, yeah.
KACZYNSKI: It was -- it was events before our story and then after you could see there were just a ton of events there in early September and now, they're absolutely none listed.
Right here, you can see he was scheduled to appear at a fundraiser to benefit the Trump Vance campaign. In Wisconsin, he was scheduled to be up here at an event for a South Dakota group that was basically socially conservative or Republican group in South Dakota. And then he was scheduled to appear at a get out the vote of that in North Carolina and all of those have been canceled or we've seen Robinson removed from the promotion.
We've reached out to all of them. We haven't heard back. And interestingly, Robinson, most importantly, he has no events listed.
BURNETT: None. I mean, it is just fascinating to watch all of this.
All right. Andrew Kaczynski, thank you very much. And the new reporting from KFILE tonight.
And we have more breaking news, Ryan Routh has officially been charged with the attempted assassination of former President Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach. Prosecutors say Routh was camped outside the course for hours, hours and hours earlier this month, as he was armed with a rifle, a rifle that Routh allegedly pointed through that chain link fence with a clear shot to the next hole, hole six where Trump was heading.
Well, tonight, the way it works in Florida, they essentially kind of pick out of a hat with the judges who could possibly get the case. They picked out of a hat and guess who got this case? Judge Aileen Cannon.
The name may sound familiar. The face certainly is. She is the judge who was assigned to Trump's classified documents case before she dismissed it.
OUTFRONT now, Ty Cobb, former Trump White House lawyer.
Ty, you know, in the world where you can't just make up news, you know, I got a lot to talk to you about tonight and this was not on the list. This had not even happened.
And then it happened and I said -- well, thank goodness, thank goodness, we have Ty, because so many times you've come on the show, you have talked about judge cannons performance at the bias that you have seen towards Donald Trump? Of course, she was appointed by him as well.
So what do you think all of that context means now that she is the judge overseeing the attempted assassination case.
TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: Nice to be with you, Erin.
You stole my opening line, I was going to say, you can't make this up. So, yes, I think it's -- it's -- it's a remarkable coincidence. I would suspect that she may recused herself or have the case for you signed. The defense attorney certainly will file if she does not, a defense attorney will certainly file a motion to transfer the case to another judge, citing to her palpable bias and if she -- if she doesn't grant that motion, it'll be an interesting potential mandamus issue for the defendant to try to get the 11th circuit to remove her, and also its certainly a very good appellate motion for the defendants. So I suspect she will not be the trial judge in that case, but, you
know, in times that were living in, its just one more crazy fact.
BURNETT: I mean, it is just, it is amazing. All right, so now to the reason that I was looking forward to speaking to you tonight, which is a letter that you wrote with 15 other top lawyers in the country to the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp asking him to take action against the state election board in Georgia for forcing counties to hand count ballots on election day.
Hand-counting, of course, has statistically been proven again and again, you can ask Gabe Sterling in Georgia, or Secretary of State Raffensperger in Georgia. It is slower, it is less accurate than a machine. And you warn in part in this letter and I, quote, in order to safeguard our republic, states must maintain public trust in the integrity of our elections by tallying votes and certifying election results without partisan influence.
Not only is the hand-count rule in unauthorized exercise, it is also fatally flawed as a policy matter.
Some very stark and ominous words, Ty, that go beyond one person counting a stack is going to get a different number every time they count the stack, you actually introduce the very real possibility of partisanship entering into that count.
[19:40:01]
Why do you feel so strongly about this?
COBB: Well, partisanships already entered into the Georgia election board. You know, it's -- it's sad but you have three MAGA members who are in close coordination or at least -- at least one or more of them in close coordination with the RNC and the state Republican Party have changed the rules previously that prompted a letter that we wrote three weeks ago about the abuse of notice of meetings and notice of voting, and running -- running changes through.
This change makes no sense, of course, it's unauthorized. Georgia law requires county with machines. It doesn't authorize hand tabulation.
So this is -- this is something that clearly exceeds their authority. Consistent with mischief that they've been up to now for months and it -- keep in mind, we went to as a country, we went largely toward machine counting to eliminate the human factor, the potential for corruption, and the easily demonstrable human errors that were being done with these mundane tasks that are much easier for a machine to do.
Keep in mind, all these machines are certified. They've got to pass the test where they accurately tabulate 10 million votes. This is -- you know, this is a -- this is a problem that they allege needs to be addressed but keep in mind, this problem emerged from Trump's big lie about fraud in the 2020 election. Of course as to which there's zero evidence.
BURNETT: Of course.
Well, Ty, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Glad to see you.
COBB: Pleasure to be with you. Thank you.
BURNETT: All right. And next were kicking off our special series, "Show Me the Money", the promises made, kept and broken by the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations. Are those promises moving votes? The single biggest issue in this election, you will be surprised by what we found.
Also, breaking a massive hurricane. Now intensifying m alarming rate heading straight to Florida. Evacuations already underway tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:46:23]
BURNETT: Tonight, Trump making promises, vowing to make the U.S. a, quote, manufacturing powerhouse, threatening massive tariffs if companies don't make their products in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: To the auto workers in Michigan, Georgia, and all other parts of our country, I am pinpointing you for greatness. I will bring automobile manufacturing back to the highest level in the history of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, those auto workers are the focus tonight as we kick off our special OUTFRONT series, "Show Me the Money" on America's economy with Phil Mattingly.
The promise is made, kept and broken by the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations.
So, Phil Mattingly reported from the states where this election will be won and lost and what he found is not what you'll hear from the pundits or pollsters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For a beleaguered Ohio community, this is the picture of hope, 2.8 million square feet of cutting-edge green manufacturing.
GEORGE GORANITIS, LOCAL UAW 112 PRESIDENT: All the mills shutting, factories shutting down, GM's, (INAUDIBLE) good paying job was General Motors, Lordstown, Ohio.
MATTINGLY: Hope for the factory workers that GM factory, like George Goranitis, forced to leave the only plant and homes they knew in many cases, their families after it closed its doors in 2019. GORANITIS: Members, you know, weren't able to handle some of the news and, you know, this situation is that we're in at that time. They took their own lives. There was divorces because of it. You know, families were ripped apart.
MATTINGLY: Lordstown story, plant closure, ripping clean through who the last remaining threads from the fabric of a once vibrant community isn't new, nor is the story of how Donald Trump tapped into those communities with bold promises to bring back the manufacturing of old.
TRUMP: Thank you very much. Ohio, we love you. Thank you.
MATTINGLY: But Trump is once again, the GOP nominee.
TRUMP: We are going to bring so many auto plants into our country.
MATTINGLY: Back with grandiose promises of a Midwest manufacturing renaissance.
TRUMP: You're going to be as big or bigger than you were 50 years ago.
MATTINGLY: Keenly aware union voters, especially auto workers, hold the keys back into the White House.
And that's why the story of this town --
GORANITIS: Our plant honestly is there -- a Trump plant.
MATTINGLY: -- is so unique.
TRUMP: Don't sell your house. Don't sell the house. We're going to get those values up.
MATTINGLY: Because that 2017 promise was made just a few miles away from the GM plant.
DAVID GREEN, FORMER LORDSTOWN LOCAL UAW PRESIDENT: People take it literally. Your words are important.
MATTINGLY: Then, GM shuttered the plant, and left workers desperate to hold on to pensions. One option, leave Lordstown.
GREEN: I've lived here pretty much my whole life until I had a move away when the plant closed.
MATTINGLY: David Green followed his dad onto the Lordstown factory floors starting as a summer helper. The local UAW president during Trump's first term, Green says his letters to the White House, pleading for help were ignored.
GREEN: I don't think this has been enough.
MATTINGLY: This Fox News appearance was not.
Trump fired off his response on Twitter shortly after, aimed squarely at Green. GREEN: I ignored it because my mom had told me, don't give it any credibility and it goes nowhere.
MATTINGLY: Trump claimed credit when a startup electric vehicle company bought the plane, touting the deal with a major event at the White House. That company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
A lot of promises have been made to the community, to the workers over the course of the last several years.
[21:50:00]
When did you kind of believe that this was going to come to be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably when they actually broke ground.
MATTINGLY: Josh Ayers (ph) now stands inside, but cutting-edge Ultium electric battery plant, steadfast about its future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This gives people in the valley another chance.
MATTINGLY: Built in the shadow of its GM predecessor, where Ayers once worked, Ultium opened its doors in 2022.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): It's now law.
MATTINGLY: Just two weeks after Trump's successor, President Joe Biden signed a sweeping, cleaning pretty investment law used to send billions to bolster plants like this one.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also unapologetically pro- union.
Calls himself the most labor friendly president in history, and I don't think many of you would argue with that.
GREEN: I agree with that, yes.
MATTINGLY: The backdrop as the UAW clinched a series of major wins that directly impacted the new plants workers. The biggest, hundreds forced to relocate to other plants in 2019.
GORANITIS: I teared up quite a few times having these conversations with my brothers and sisters that I used to work with here in Lordstown.
MATTINGLY: Could finally come home.
GORANITIS: I never thought it was going to happen.
MATTINGLY: And yet --
GORANITIS: A lot of the members that I do speak with that time that Trump was in office, you know, they state to me that just our economy at that time, that the jobs are better at that time, and businesses are booming, a lot of the members just say at that time, that's why I'm not good at talking about politics.
MATTINGLY: You're actually doing a fantastic job.
GORANITIS: Well --
MATTINGLY: This isn't like --
(CROSSTALK)
MATTINGLY: I don't know, but this is the point is like I don't actually -- I don't want you to be like expert analyst. I talked enough with those guys on a day-to-day basis. I want to understand how people are actually like the conversations you're having, assessing it.
GORANITIS: Because it's just hard time right now, right now, because, you know, unions of always backed Democrat.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
GORANITIS: Always have. And it does look like its starting to take a turning point.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Incredible to watch his emotion there and your conversation. That it just maybe if the plant with Trump and then the plant with Biden, but the emotion there, the palpable emotion that many of those workers are turning Republican. I mean, that is really incredible.
MATTINGLY: That moment at the end, I don't think I've really stopped thinking about since we left Lordstown.
BURNETT: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: The reason why is this. George Goranitis was the rank-and- file guy, right? He is thrust into this leadership role. Right now based on his central role in the series of major wins, he is trying to convince his colleagues, his co-workers, that from a policy perspective, there's only one choice here. It's what you hear from union leadership around the country.
And yet we also hear from union leadership around the country, the rank and file isn't sold on this. This is an issue. Look, Trumbull County in Ohio, this is a Trump County. It's swung hard there in 2016. I'm not expecting it. We didn't get to the ground and think there's going to be some dramatic shift back to Biden and Harris.
But what this plant demonstrates in place its where policies actually worked is what we've seen in those critical blue wall states. And I think its something we're going to continue to look into, our next piece coming tomorrow. We go into two other states from the blue wall, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, where they have similar traits and the stories of manufacturing hubs have just been hollowed out over decades. We watched that story, listen that story, and get a read on the economy from that story through these two families that walk us through exactly what they, Phil Kerner (ph), Hurley Coleman (ph) as well, and try and demonstrate its not necessarily what you read or the macroeconomic numbers, what people are feeling on the ground. And two of the most critical battleground counties in the country.
BURNETT: And what would absolutely show where this election could go in a way no poll can.
Phil Mattingly, thank you very much.
And Phil will be back with a second installment in his special series tomorrow night.
And next, the breaking news that monster storm exploding in intensity in the gulf, now on track to become a category tropic hurricane, aiming at Florida.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:58:00]
BURNETT: The breaking news that evacuations underway tonight already. This is in Florida as a massive storm gaining -- is gaining strength that is set to be the strongest to hit the United States in more than a year. Right now, it's called tropical storm Helene. It is on track to become a category three hurricane though so incredibly quick intensification by the time it slams into the Florida coast on Thursday and is expected to bring up to a 15 foot of storm surge.
The White House approving a state of emergency already. The Navy moving ships and aircraft out of the state.
Now, Chad Myers is OUTFRONT in the CNN weather center.
And, Chad, you're just getting a new update I know from the National Hurricane Center. What are you learning?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, the 8:00 advisory is in just a couple of minutes early, just for you, Erin.
Sixty 60 miles per hour -- now, think about this at 5:00 this morning, it was only 35. So we are up 20 five miles per hour in that center of circulation, just in 15 hours. So yes, the water is warm.
The hurricane hunter aircraft are in the storm, right now, at least one of them, another one on the way. But we are seeing that water temperatures in the middle 80s. That's enough to make a rapidly intensifying hurricane as it makes its way on up, probably somewhere land-falling in about 48 hours from now, maybe even during your show on Thursday.
So, yes, 115 but I still have to hedge to bet plus or minus 10 percent on that because its not always a perfect formula here. And the storm will still have winds of 70 as it gets to Valdosta, Georgia. Maybe 50 or 60 to Atlanta, Georgia, taking down a lot of trees and power lines hurricane warning has been issued already from Mexico Beach all the way down to about Ochlocknee River, that just to the north of Tampa.
And then south of Tampa, we do have tropical storm force winds expected with tropical storm warnings. Now, we're going to see a lot of surge. This is the catchers mitt that we always talk about. Once the water gets in here, it can't go anywhere but up those rivers and into those swamps, into those areas here, from St. Marks all the way down to Perry, 10, 15 feet of surge. And even on the east coast, there could be surged because the winds will be blowing into Savannah, into Tybee, into Charleston, places that certainly don't need any water in the streets.
And 100, 115 miles per hour, not out of the question, all the way to the Georgia/Florida line. Here's the rainfall. And this is another big, big problem. There will be places from Asheville to Atlanta that will have rainfall of ten inches or more. Widespread flash flooding -- Erin.
BURNETT: Just in areas that have just received so much rain. Chad, thank you very for that breaking news, that latest update from the Hurricane Center.
Thanks to all of you for being with us.
Anderson starts now.
