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CNN Live Event/Special
Election Day In America Continued; Key States Keep Nation On Edge; Trump's 2:00 A.M. Victory Call Falls Apart; Georgia And Nevada In The Spotlight; CNN Casts Trump With 213, Biden 224 Seats. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired November 04, 2020 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR, ELECTION DAY IN AMERICA CONTINUED: All right. About 8:30 on the East Coast.
We still do not know who will be president of the United States come January 20th. It is simply too close to call in several key states.
About six states right now hang in the balance, two of them out west.
So Phil Mattingly, here at the magic wall with me. Let's talk about Arizona first then Nevada.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We kind of walked through the East Coast, Pennsylvania into the Midwest.
Let's talk about two also very important states.
I want to start with Arizona. Arizona back in 2016 went to Donald Trump. However, Democrats saw a narrowing margin in 2016 and thought perhaps, based on what happened in 2018 when they flipped the senate seat here, this was the year when it would turn Democratic.
Let's look at what's happening.
Right now Joe Biden with 130,000 vote lead, 82 percent reporting. And why does Joe Biden have that lead? Maricopa County.
You know this state well, you've covered this state before. Maricopa County, 60 percent of the population lives here.
This is a county that has shifted over the course of the last several cycles. Suburban turnout, education, also Hispanic turnout as well.
The population inside Maricopa has started to shift towards Democrats. We've seen it.
Right now, it looks like that shift is bordering on flipping this state for Biden, 86 percent reporting.
That is a sizable margin, a larger margin than Kyrsten Sinema had in her senate race. Now there's vote outstanding, 86 percent is in Maricopa. The Trump Campaign has made clear with 82 percent, they don't want
anybody calling this. CNN has not called it yet, same in the senate race. But this is a sizable advantage.
And if you are holding this margin in Maricopa County and you're the Democrat you are likely to win this state. However, votes outstanding, we'll keep an eye on it.
The biggest reason why Arizona is important -- you've been talking about this with me -- is this is a flip.
And this is a flip that all of a sudden makes it possible to get to 270 electoral votes without winning Pennsylvania if you're Joe Biden. That is why the Democrats wanted this.
Last night before Arizona came online there was a lot of concern that pathways were shutting off entirely. This opened pathways, this made clear pathways. That's why Arizona matters.
However, still hasn't been called. Biden with 130,000 vote lead.
BERMAN: So Arizona opens up several paths or keeps several paths open.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
BERMAN: Nevada, if it were to go to Donald Trump, all of sudden some of those paths close down.
MATTINGLY: Look, I will tell you what a Democrat texted me when the most recent Clark County update came in which was "Yikes." "Yikes."
Not because Nevada was over -- look, Joe Biden has a 7,647 vote lead, 86 percent is reporting. And what is outstanding according to the secretary of state in this state is mail-in vote.
And we've been talking about mail-in vote, vote by mail, it has skewed heavily Democratic. I believe the majority of it is from Clark County, Clark County is a Democratic stronghold for the Biden campaign.
That allows you to exhale a little bit. This does not allow you to exhale.
Most Democrats believe because of the turnout operation -- former senate majority leader Harry Reid, his whole team, what they've done over the course of the last several cycles put Nevada in a pretty good lock.
The Trump Campaign has repeatedly said nuh-uh, this is in play. Right now it's in play; 86 percent reporting, Joe Biden with a narrow lead.
All eyes on Clark County. You kind of look at Clark County and you say 10 percent's the fire wall here. If you're winning Clark County by 10 percent and you're a Democrat, you're pretty good to go.
BERMAN: They're not there.
MATTINGLY: It was at 10 percent until a couple of hours ago. Now it's narrowed down. Again, we know there's outstanding vote in Clark County, 84 percent reporting.
For Democrats right now, this is way too close for comfort for them particularly because Joe Biden's winning Washoe.
Washoe was kind of the swing district, right, in this state in 2016. Hillary Clinton won it narrowly, narrowly, as she went on to win this state. Right now, Joe Biden winning it rather handily.
The difference, the turnout in the rurals and keeping the margins close -- in Clark. Right now only 7,000 votes separate.
We'll see how this goes.
The one biggest wild card, biggest wrench, to any pathway the Biden Campaign would have is if all of a sudden this changes.
[08:35:00]
As you noted, we won't know anything -- not today until tomorrow according to Nevada officials so we'll have to wait and see here. But right now, Democrats feel like they're OK. But this is close.
BERMAN: Yes. To be clear, all the election day vote is in, 100 percent --
MATTINGLY: Yes.
BERMAN: -- of the election day is counted, what it is outstanding is mail, a lot of it in Clark County. A lot of the mail has been trending Democratic but we don't know. We're just waiting.
All right, Phil. Keep us posted as this develops. It is certainly exciting, it keeps on changing.
Let's go now to Biden headquarters. The former vice president has been trying to strike this patient, optimistic tone. Listen to what he said a few hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT AND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It ain't over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. Keep the faith, guys, we're going to win this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. Jessica Dean live for us this Wilmington, Delaware, at the campaign headquarters.
You've been talking to people on the inside, what are they saying?
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this morning one campaign aide telling me that they are optimistic, that they are on the right track. That they believe when all the votes will be counted that Joe Biden is going to emerge the winner.
Another source close to the campaign telling me that for Biden and the Democrats they're just under the burden right now of waiting for the votes that take the longest to tally.
So right now, it's just this waiting game that everyone is doing.
But, again, as they look at the map, as you guys have been doing with Phil, going county by county, you can bet that's what they're doing right now as well. And they're taking in all of that.
And based on what they're seeing they are feeling pretty good that once it all comes in that that's going to go into their column. And that ultimately Joe Biden will be declared the winner.
But, again, it's just the waiting game right now. They just have to cautiously -- you know, be cautious and tell everyone to pack their patience. That's been their message all along.
One source pointing me to campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon's tweet from several weeks ago that said this race is a lot closer than the polls say, this race is a lot closer than a lot of people think. And indeed, it has turned out to be a tight race. John.
BERMAN: Yes. Jessica, not much for anyone on the insider campaigns to do now except to watch. And maybe start getting lawyers at the ready and sending them in the key states.
Jessica Dean in Wilmington. Thank you very much.
BERMAN: Watch, send in lawyers or maybe there is a third option which is to lie about the democratic process.
And that is what the president of the United States tried to do overnight.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country.
We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.
CROWD: (Applause)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: There were Republicans put off by that. The president calling fraud, disclaiming the counting, counting that may ultimately lead to his victory. Let's go right to the White House also known as Trump headquarters
this morning because that's where they're running things. Kaitlan Collins is there.
Kaitlan, what are you hearing?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we're seeing why you don't come out at half past two as the president did and prematurely declare victory.
Because there were states that the president was touting five hours ago that now there is more of the precincts reporting their votes and it's not looking good for the president.
The margins that he had that he was touting in the White House just behind me in the east wing just a few hours ago have now narrowed substantially. And people are voicing concern about this.
And, of course, the reason the president did this is because in 2016 by this time he had already won the election basically, he was already giving his acceptance speech.
But now he is realizing how quickly things can change and especially when people have been warning that you might look good early on but when the mail-in ballots start being counted in these critical states to your reelection it might not look as favorable as it did earlier in the evening.
And so the president came out, he declared victory when there was no victory to declare. Not for him, certainly not for Joe Biden either at that point as we are now still many hours later counting votes.
But the president also promised a legal challenge, John.
And that is something he's been telegraphing for weeks now, his advisors have been saying it in the last several days.
But the question is what is he challenging exactly? Because the president was saying they're going to take this to the supreme court.
Of course, that's not how this works. You don't just decide that you're going to the supreme court, you've got to have to have a case first and they're still counting legitimate ballots at this point. As they were when the president came out last night.
So basically at the White House they are sitting back, they're watching these numbers just like we are in Wisconsin, in Michigan, of course, and Pennsylvania as they are starting to come in.
But things are looking a lot different for the president than they were when he came out and declared victory that of course he had not secured yet.
BERMAN: Yes. He's talking about votes that were cast weeks ago and arrived by yesterday. Almost impossible to imagine a legitimate legal challenge to any of those.
Kaitlan Collins at the White House. Please keep us posted.
They are counting in six states at this moment.
[08:40:00]
We're waiting on the next batch of votes to be posted. And the next state that tips one way could be decisive.
CNN's special live coverage continues right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Welcome back, everyone. This is CNN's special live coverage.
08:44 on the East Coast and we still don't know who the next president will be.
In 2000, we had Florida, in 2004, we had Ohio. As we sit here this morning we have six Floridas, six Ohios, six states where they're still counting.
And the race, the election, the presidency hangs in the balance.
So stand by now for a key race alert.
Let's talk about the state of Georgia where things are very close this morning.
Donald Trump leads by 100,000 votes with 92 percent of the vote in, 16 electoral votes up for grabs.
But what's key here is the outstanding vote comes from largely urban population centers and the outstanding vote is vote by mail which is skewed heavily Democratic.
Is there the math to make up the margins for Joe Biden? We're just not sure.
But if he does make up that margin, Georgia could be decisive.
Look at this wall right here, you can see on the path to 270, Joe Biden now has 224 electoral votes, Donald Trump has 213.
[08:45:00]
If for some reason Joe Biden was able to pull it out in Georgia, it shuts off so many paths for Donald Trump to win the election, maybe even sealing the deal.
Right now the president is leading. Will that change? We're watching very closely.
Let's go right to Georgia now. CNN's Nick Valencia live in Atlanta, Nick, what are you seeing? NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, this is far from over. In
this race 12 hours after all the polls closed here across the state, still too close to call.
As you mentioned, the big question is are there enough remaining Democratic votes to push Joe Biden over the edge here? He's currently trailing President Trump by 102,000 votes.
And there is optimism here among Democrats in the state that they can make it happen.
Why? Because Fulton County, the biggest county in the state and also a Democratic stronghold still hasn't finished counting votes.
I just got off the phone with Regina Waller, she's with Fulton County, who tells me as of 8:30 this morning they began again counting those absentee votes after they stopped last night at 10:30.
Part of that delay is because yesterday morning there was a pipe burst in State Farm arena right behind me, the site of a super site here, where there was tons of early voting that happened.
That pipe burst, if you can believe it, caused according to officials a three to four-hour delay. They decided to stop counting last night.
Neighboring DeKalb County also has another 79,000 outstanding absentee ballots.
Together, those two counties, 127,000 votes still on the table well within the margin of that 102,000 estimated lead that President Trump has here.
A lot on the line in Georgia, 16 electoral votes. This is a state that President Trump carried by five percentage points without visiting the state once.
He's been here three times since July. Last week, we saw Joe Biden deliver his closing message here. And this is a state that he would desperately, desperately love to win.
It would deliver a devastating blow for the chances of President Trump's reelection bid.
John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Right now the president ahead by about 102,000 votes. Nick Valencia, please keep us posted.
Let's go to Jim Sciutto now at the voting desk. Jim, Georgia and Michigan, we're still waiting on votes to come in. Where do things stand?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, folks at home might wonder why at this point we don't know. The simple fact is there are still votes to be counted. Legal votes,
cast legally, still to be counted in states where the margins are thin.
So let's look at two of those states right now. Let's begin with Georgia.
Eighty percent of the vote is counted so far. They just resumed counting at -- well, about 17 minutes ago, 8:30 am. These are absentee and mail-in ballots which tend to favor Joe Biden -- not clear if that's going to be enough change to change where the race stands right now. Tends to.
Let's look at the counties in particular here. Fulton County, in and around Atlanta. Heavy urban area here, you'll will be remembering the long voting lines we saw there, heavy turnout. This is an area that tends to favor the vice president quite strongly.
Question is, is it enough to make up the broader deficit so far?
Another county. DeKalb County, as Nick was just mentioning there also just outside Atlanta. They haven't even begun -- resumed counting yet, they will in just over two hours at 11 o'clock. Again, absentee and mail-in ballots there. 79,000 absentee and mail-in ballots still to be counted in DeKalb County. And in Fulton County, 48,000. So that's a big number.
Again, could be crucial in determining the outcome of this state. And that's why it's still too close to call despite the president's lead at this point.
OK. Let's look ahead to Michigan. Another state, hasn't been called yet.
Why is that? Still lots of votes to be counted, a lot of legal votes. In particular, in urban areas.
Wayne County in and around Detroit. So far, 64 percent of the votes have been counted there. This is the largest county in Michigan, heavily urban.
For Democrats to take over this state where the president still at this point maintains a lead, they need to win big there right now. It does favor Democrats.
Of course, the big question just like in Georgia, does it favor them enough to make up the deficit in rural areas, et cetera.
Hundreds of thousands of votes still to be counted in the state of Michigan more broadly, according to the secretary of state. That includes not only Detroit, Wayne County, Grand Rapids, Flint, Warren.
And the secretary of state saying there -- this is important for people at home to hear. Every vote will be counted. You can be confident, the secretary of state of Michigan says. OK. Let's go big picture now. In Georgia, key state, 8 percent of the vote remains to be counted there overall. Enough to turn an election.
In Michigan, 14 percent of the vote remains to be counted there. Enough to turn an election. Particularly in the tight margins that we have right now.
Again, in both those states it's urban areas that tend to favor Democrats.
The question, of course, is it enough to turn the results in those states and ultimately, given their position as battleground states in this election, to turn the election overall?
Other states coming in. Wisconsin, another swing state, tighter there, 3 percent remains to be counted.
Pennsylvania, 25 percent remains to be counted.
[08:50:00]
And keep in mind -- as we've noted on this broadcast before -- votes there can come in up to three days after the election.
That means a lot of the votes not only haven't been counted but they may not have come in yet. So that's why you're hearing from folks there that it may be some time.
A Pennsylvania election official earlier this evening said we can't count what we don't yet have. Simple statement, but, again, it's legal. Those votes can come three days after the election.
So, John, a lot of tight margins there and a lot more of our viewers' votes to be counted in this election.
Back to you.
BERMAN: A lot of counting going on as we speak, Jim. Jim Sciutto at the voting desk. Thank you so much.
Let's dig a little deeper now, particularly into Georgia.
Phil Mattingly with me at the magic wall. Phil, what are you seeing here?
MATTINGLY: Well, I wrote 72,000 on the wall. Because that was what Nick Valencia's great report was talking about with DeKalb County.
And if you go in to DeKalb County, what you're looking at here is just the enormous margin. Enormous margin.
So if 72,000 is left outstanding, they're all vote by mail and a Democratic county that goes 83-16 at this point in time, that is a substantial pick up opportunity in terms of total votes.
Here, let's take a look, pull back out at where the top line is. Again, Donald Trump still ahead by 103,760 votes.
And I think the biggest thing -- you add 65,000 votes in DeKalb, you add -- take a look at what's Fulton County now that they're counting again, see what you can get out of that -- biggest county, obviously another big margin there. Obviously, absentee as well.
And I think one of the interesting things -- I've been focused on the Atlanta Metro area, I haven't necessarily paid attention down here.
You've got Chatham County, home of Savannah. Again, what's outstanding, largely vote by mail in a Democratic county that skews in a medium, composition-wise, Democratic.
So it might be this margin, it might be 55-42, it might be Republican.
But likely, if it follows the trend we've seen over the course of the entire country over the course of the night, perhaps that's an even bigger Democratic vote.
What I'm trying to say here is there's unknown variables in terms of the composition of the vote, how it's all going to come in, whether its vote by mail and how much of it is Democratic vote by mail.
But the reality is when you look at what's outstanding, you see a number of Republican counties, you see the red counties filled in, those are not huge counties.
These are decent vote centers and they aren't even Atlanta Metro and the outside of it.
Don't know that there's a pathway, still trying to figure out the numbers. That's why I thought the 72,000 was interesting in DeKalb.
But the reality is the reason why Georgia hasn't been called yet when Donald Trump has a 103,000 vote lead is this. One, two, three, four; wait and see those come in, that'll tell you what happens in Georgia.
BERMAN: There are enough votes to make it possible, likely, who knows?
MATTINGLY: Right.
BERMAN: We're watching them count. Nick Valencia will tell us the minute --
MATTINGLY: Yes.
BERMAN: -- he gets more information, Phil. All right. Thanks very much.
Time to go over to my colleague, Alisyn Camerota.
Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, ANCHOR, CNN ELECTION DAY IN AMERICA CONTINUED: Thank you very much, John. So early this morning during a self-proclaimed victory speech,
President Trump claimed without evidence that the election was fraudulent and said he would go to the supreme court to stop votes from being counted.
What do all of these very tight races mean for future legal fights?
For that I want to bring in CNN election law analysts Rick Pildes and Jonathan Diaz.
OK. So, Rick, let me start with you. That's an idle threat from president Trump, correct? He can't stop the votes from being counted for the next however many days, right?
RICHARD PILDES, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: Well, number one, he can't go directly to the supreme court.
Number two, most of these issues end up being state law issues, they don't actually involve federal constitutional law.
And, number three, we have a legal process here, a process of going through the absentee ballots. That process is going to go forward, it's not likely a court is going to stop that process at any point along the way.
We will have legal battles, this was expected, if we ended up in this position.
But the courts are going to decide if there are facts to support of these kinds of claims. And we know that there will be a lot of extreme, outlandish claims made that do not have any factual basis.
CAMEROTA: OK. But Jonathan, let's talk about that. There are razor- thin margins in six battleground states right now. So are these legal challenges inevitable? Should we start bracing for those?
JONATHAN DIAZ, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: They're certainly not inevitable.
I think at this point, much like with the ultimate results, it's still too soon to tell whether any of these states will be within a margin where a legal challenge could prove decisive.
And like Rick said, the facts on the ground are going to have to be there to support any kind of legal claim to stop counting or to not count a certain pool of ballots in a particular state.
And so far we haven't seen that.
CAMEROTA: Look, we all remember what happened in 2000 and it came down to 537 votes, ballots, in Florida.
Rick, do you see the same ingredients in any state sort of shaping up right now?
PILDES: I think we are getting closer to that point. We see how fine the margins look like they might be in a few states, maybe Wisconsin, maybe Nevada.
It depends on how chose the overall margin in the election is. We don't know about Pennsylvania.
[08:55 :00]
You can bet if those margins are tight, I think both sides are going to pursue every possible avenue in court.
And let me point out one issue the Biden campaign might pursue which we have not talked about much.
You may remember this issue about the skinny ballots in Pennsylvania which are now all invalid votes under state law. We don't know how many votes there may be there. These are the votes that come in without a secrecy sleeve.
Pennsylvania, uniquely among states, throws those out.
I can easily imagine the Biden campaign itself going to court and saying it's unconstitutional to throw those votes out if they are a large enough volume to make a potential difference in Pennsylvania.
CAMEROTA: That's really interesting insight. Thank you, Jonathan, Rick. Thank you both very much.
And let's go back to my friend and colleague, John Berman.
BERMAN: All right. Thanks so much, Alisyn. More votes coming in by the minute. We're watching six states very, very closely this morning.
And there is a trend developing over the last several hours that might give us a clue of where things are headed.
CNN's special live coverage continues right after this.
[09:00:00]
