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CNN America's Choice 2020; Biden Leads in Michigan and Trump Leads in Pennsylvania; Awaiting Update from Michigan Officials on Vote Count. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired November 04, 2020 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:12]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All eyes on Michigan as Joe Biden moves into the lead and we wait to hear shortly from election officials in that state.

I'm Anderson Cooper. This is "Election Day in America Continued."

Michigan and Wisconsin. You see Vice President Biden there on the top as these states have been turning bluer all morning. More votes still to be counted. Arizona, Nevada still in flux but Biden holds the lead in those states too right now as well. Georgia, surprisingly close.

Erin Burnett is with us as well. Erin?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: It's amazing how close it is, Anderson. And here we are. We're going to be digging in all these numbers. Obviously, the votes coming in. As you're saying, the shift, the change in count and talk to the officials in these closest states to try to see when we're going to know.

COOPER: Yes, we all need to take a deep breath and wait for the votes to be counted but there's a lot to discuss in the hours ahead. We have reporters standing by with the two campaigns weighing in on their path to victory. A lot to bring you. Thanks very much for joining us. It's going to be a long and exciting day.

Let's start with our John King and the big picture, drill down maybe on Wisconsin and Michigan as well. Everything has been shifting just throughout this morning. If you went to sleep last night thinking you knew the way this thing was going, you had a surprise this morning.

So, John, for those who stayed up late and are just now tuning back in, big picture, where are we? What happened since last night?

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: The most important point, Anderson, is the point you just made so before I get to the map, I just want to reinforce it. Patience, patience, patience. Both campaigns are asking for votes to be counted. Today, the Trump campaign wants them counted in Arizona and Nevada. They have every right to ask that. Joe Biden is leading in those states right now. The Biden campaign says keep counting Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. They have every right to ask that. Everybody should want all the votes counted.

Let's start there. If you went to bed around 3:00 a.m., Wisconsin was red then. Donald Trump was leading. Michigan was red then. Donald Trump was leading. So, you see the map now, it does look very different. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to tap away here.

You see these states going into the gray. The ones that are gray, we have not called them yet. We have the leads right now. I'll show you. We have not called Nevada. We have not called Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maine, North Carolina or Georgia.

So, now I'm going to come back and take that off. You do see who is leading. Leading is not winning. Leading means we're still counting votes.

So, let's go in. Again, I left here about 4:00 in the morning. This was still red. Now it is blue. It is very narrowly blue, which is why we will continue the count. Joe Biden on top of Wisconsin. 49.4 percent to 48.8 percent. 20,697 votes at the moment they're continuing to count. They should continue to count. Very close.

So, as they continue to count, we know what's happening today in all of these states. The lawyers are getting involved. And most of that is fine. You want eyes on everything that's happening. The question is, where does it go from there?

Move over to battleground Michigan, 9,994 votes. Remember, President Trump won this state four years ago. President Trump won this state by 10,000 votes. So, a nail-biter in Michigan seems to be a trademark of the Trump presidency. 49.3 percent, 49.1 percent. About 90 percent of the votes in. But again, they still have to count votes.

One of the places they're still waiting for votes, Wayne County. This is Detroit, and the area around Detroit is heavily Democratic. You see there at 70 percent. So, if you're in the Biden campaign you think largest county in the state, predominantly Democratic. We think we're going to add votes. But again, let the process play out today.

Come. Let's bring out more. And come over to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, still red. It was red at 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m., still red this morning. 540,000 vote lead when I left last night. About 4:00 a.m., it was around 660,000, I think. So, it's a little smaller for Donald Trump. 78 percent in. But secretary of state of Pennsylvania just moments ago saying they still have a lot of votes to count, asking for patience, but she did say she expects progress throughout the day.

So, let's pull it out, and look at the map. I'm going to just walk over here because this is the context that matters. 270 electoral votes to be the next president of the United States, right? Where are we right now? Joe Biden at 224. The president at 213. The changes overnight, this is one of the reasons they matter, and this is why the Trump campaign says we believe Nevada and Arizona can turn. There's a reason they're saying that. They cannot concede those states because they need them.

Let's just do a little math. If Joe Biden keeps his lead here, keeps his lead here, keeps his lead here, keeps his lead here, then you get to 267. 267, it takes 270. We have not called Maine yet. If Joe Biden can win them all in Maine, 271.

Even if he loses Maine's second congressional district to the president, you bring this out. Maine is one of two states like Nebraska that splits it. Even if he lost the second congressional district, which is quite possible, Joe Biden could win the presidency with Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, 2 out of the 3 in Maine. He wouldn't even need Pennsylvania, North Carolina or Georgia.

That's the reason the Trump campaign says we're not done out here, Anderson. We're going to count throughout the day. Both men have a chance to be the next president of the United States. Patience is going to be required. And we have people watching. The campaigns have people watching. So, when you hear stop, it's a fraud, stop counting. It's just simply wrong. Let's count votes.

[11:05:05]

COOPER: And where is -- what is the situation in Nevada right now for the -- for both candidates?

KING: Let me come back over here so we can do that. Sorry for the little choreography issues here. But let's bring this up over here.

Nevada, 7,647 votes. So, you see in state after state, we have this really close elections. This also means they're going to continue to count the votes here. Clark County, Vegas, this is 72 percent, 73 percent, sometimes higher depending on turnout, but you know, 7 out of 10 votes more than that coming out of here. And again, there are 84 percent. So, we're going to have more votes. Our Clark County as they count the votes, 53 percent to 45 percent if you round it up.

You know, odds are based on everything we've seen in Clark County so far. Joe Biden will get more votes here. But that's what odds are. That's what happened last night. That's what happened overnight.

Let's - let the people count the votes and see what we get. You bring it out here. You come into the more rural counties and you come through here. Again, 88 percent. Not a lot of people live here but the president will make up some votes in places like this. Make up some votes as we move around the counties here and come over here like this. 88 percent there. Again, president winning big. You see, it's 1,300 to 800 votes, 750 votes.

So, he's going to make up some votes. This is why you have to be patient and why states are complicated. Clark County is the biggest. Washoe County is the second biggest. There up to 89 percent. This is a close swing county. 51 percent to 47 percent if you round it up. So, let them count some votes. Biden could pick up a few. Trump could catch up a little bit.

This is the issue we're going to through all day long, Anderson. The state officials are working, some of them didn't sleep, some of them are getting - some of these local election officials getting a little bit of sleep. We're going to have to go from East Coast to West Coast, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, keep counting.

Now the question is at the end of the day some of these states may be close enough for mandatory recounts or candidates can request recounts so that's part of the issue as well. Patience is the operative word this morning.

COOPER: Is it fair to say in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in Nevada and in Arizona the outstanding votes that have not yet been counted, the outstanding tallies, can you say one way or another whether they're in -- in counties that lean more Democratic or Republican?

KING: We know some of them are. Pennsylvania is more of an exception because there are several counties, half dozen or more counties that President Trump carried four years ago where they deliberately said we're going to be overwhelmed on Election Day. We're going to wait until today. So, those are counties Trump carried and Trump is leading in today.

Now, we also know though from our data that the overwhelming early vote, mail-in vote in Pennsylvania was Democratic. And so, we need to balance that out. You can say based on -- based on the data we have and based on the vote return so far, that we expect a lot of those votes still outstanding to be for Joe Biden but we need to let them count them and not jump ahead.

So again, you pull this up right here. 540,000 votes in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That looks like a big lead, right? It looks like a big lead but not so much if you start thinking, well we're only up to 60 percent in Philadelphia and Philadelphia County. Philadelphia City and the county around it, if you're only up to 60 percent, you know, commonsense right here, Joe Biden's getting 78 percent to 21 percent. If you want to round that up, 22 percent for President Trump.

So, you know as they count these votes, Joe Biden is going to win the bulk of them. Is it enough? We've done the math. They are - there are enough votes out there based on where they're missing. They're not missing. Missing is the wrong word. I don't want to -- this is going to be a confusing day.

Where they have yet to be counted. They're not missing. No one is out knocking on doors asking people to hand in ballots. These ballots are all in secure locations, both campaigns are watching them. So, when you hear talk about shenanigans, just everybody needs to walk through the process.

But in Philadelphia, and you move over here to Montgomery County, again, 85 percent, more votes to be counted. 61 percent if you round up, to 39. Democratic suburbs outside of Philadelphia. So yes, we have done the math and there is a possibility that Joe Biden when you look at how many are out, where are they, what do we know about the mail-in voting percentages, yes, Joe Biden has a chance to overcome what looks like a pretty big lead.

COOPER: John, secretary of state, we heard from the secretary of state in Pennsylvania just a short time ago, she was talking about millions of ballots which have yet to be counted, she said millions with an s. And in particular she was also talking about ballots coming from members of the Armed Forces, which there's I think a 10-day window for those ballots to still come in.

KING: Right. You're raising a critical question - critical point. And remember, we'll walk through this all day long. There are different rules in different states. Some states, it says the ballot has to be received by Election Day. Other states has - just has to be postmarked by Election Day.

So, even if we make progress today, we may not get to the finish line in some of these states and commonwealth of Pennsylvania is one of them. So, the ballots they have in hand, they're going to count today. More ballots could come in that are considered legal ballots.

Watch again, we saw the president last night. The president wants to stop the count. That's not what we do in the United States. But we do know that tells us the posture of the president's legal team. They're going into these places and say stop the count. That will be the fight over the next several days.

But you raised a very important point, military members, Americans who live overseas, this happens to them in every election. Every two years in federal elections, every time they vote in their state election, they mail in their ballots as long as they were legally cast and they're postmarked by the right time and they're on the way, they should be counted.

[11:10:09]

So, if it's very, very close, we think we're going to make a lot of progress today. The secretary of state, you just mentioned her, Secretary of State Boockvar in Pennsylvania, says they're going to make a lot of progress today. But if it gets closer and stays close, our patience may be required for another day or three, perhaps even longer, more.

COOPER: Yes. I mean the notion of stopping counting ballots, which what the president had said last night, that would mean stop the people who are serving in the Armed Forces, their ballots wouldn't count. That seems impossible to imagine.

KING: And just, look, number one, I know there are Trump supporters watching as well. There are Biden supporters watching. We just need to -- it's impossible. It's impossible. Ask people to take their hats off today. This is the United States of America and we count votes. That's what we do, right?

If there's any inconsistency in the Trump argument, Anderson, if you will, if you pull it out, Trump is saying you know stop here, right? I'm winning in Pennsylvania. I'm leading in Pennsylvania, just stop. They're mad because at 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m., these were both red, the Trump campaign says stop, stop. We think it's over.

And yet at the same time, they're arguing we need to keep counting votes and keep looking in Nevada and Arizona. Why? Because they're trailing in those states and they were trailing consistently, right? This was not - this was not a case of these states flipping overnight as they counted more ballots. The president was behind pretty much from the beginning of the count. Once we had a credible representation of the ballot.

So, there's an intellectual inconsistency in the Trump argument. In these states over here, the blue wall states, if you will, please stop because they were key to my 2016 maps. Out here, let's keep counting.

But again, there's a reason for that. If you come over here, and just look at this. If you go through the math, right? I'm going to bring this back to where we are. If you bring this back to where we are, if Joe Biden wins this, this and this, right, I haven't done Maine yet.

We're still waiting on North Carolina, then it's absolutely imperative. It's absolutely imperative for the president to go here and here. It still may not be enough, right? Even if the president were to get this. He's not going to win all of them in Maine. So, these states here, the president needs this map and then he hopes he can keep this in the end. That would get him moving up as we go.

We still have Alaska to add to it. If you do that, when Alaska comes in, and you do this, then the president of the United States can win. But there's a possibility that he needs either Nevada or Arizona for his math if the trendlines here continue the way they're going, which is why, again, it's inconsistent.

They want you to stop here and keep going there. That tells you everything you need to know. That's politics. That's politics. We need to do the math.

COOPER: John, talking about doing the math, we're going to do that right now. John King stand by. I want to go to Kate Bolduan in Philadelphia for more and the state of the count there and the speed of it. Kate, what are you learning?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, Anderson. 50 percent. That is the mark that Philadelphia has just hit. That is how many of the mail-in ballots that they have been processing nonstop since yesterday. That is how many of the mail-in ballots that they have finally been able to count. The commissioners, they just updated us a short time ago, and they added 45,000 mail-in ballots to the count.

As of 4:00 this morning, it was around 141,000 mail-in ballots had been counted. They just updated it. Now it's near around above 186,000 mail-in ballots. They say that there's no issues to report, that the process, it just takes time, from the beginning of opening the envelope twice, flattening it out, getting it into the processing machine and then scanning it. And the way the system works, while it might be confusing and frustrating at times, is that count and report comes out in waves. And the latest wave was just updated.

It is very clear from my conversations, Anderson, with the people overseeing this and in charge here in Philadelphia, that they are acutely aware that the country's eyes are on them and they want to get it right. How long will it take?

When will they be done? They're definitely not committing to a timeline publicly but behind the scenes, I'm told, that it is not unreasonable to think that they will be done with the count here in Philadelphia by tomorrow morning, be done with a vast majority of the 350,000 mail-in ballots, definitely the most of any county in the commonwealth.

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They think it's -- I'm told it's not unreasonable to think they will be done by tomorrow. Anderson?

COOPER: Kate, just two quick with points, you said they counted 150,000 and 50 percent. Does that mean there's another 150,000 still could be counted?

BOLDUAN: Yes, so there's 350,000 mail-in ballots here. They still have some more coming in because remember, how it works in Pennsylvania is if it's postmarked by Election Day, they have three days for them to come in. So, the mail-in ballots are still going to be coming in. Those will be segregated and put to a side in the processing, in this massive processing facility that they're doing kind of right behind me.

[11:15:06]

So, they have, yes, they have it, they're at 186,000 right now -- 86,000. They've got just that to go. They think and the process is moving. They think they will get it done.

COOPER: OK. So, let's go. Kate, appreciate it. We will check in back with you as soon as we get more votes coming in.

Let's go back to John King. John, we've seen now, Kate saying 45,000 more votes being counted. Could you take a look at that area in Philadelphia?

KING: Right. So, you just pop it out again. So, you're in central city Philadelphia, right? Always blue. Always blue. And always blue by a lopsided margin. So, this is why in the Biden campaign they say be patient. They think they have the math to overcome this. They have every right to think that.

We went through this in 2016. Remember, late in the night the Clinton campaign kept telling us, they thought Michigan and Wisconsin will going to flip back. That they have the vote. They didn't in the end. They didn't in the end. But we counted them, and we got to the end. And that's what we need to do here.

Is the Biden math right? We know from our data about early voting that they are overwhelmingly disproportionate Democratic votes. The early votes -- the mail-in votes in Pennsylvania, the entire commonwealth. So, if you're thinking about the city of Philadelphia and the Democratic areas around it, it is reasonable to assume the ballots left in this area are going to be -- look how the vote is coming in so far.

Again, 78 percent if you round up, 22 percent if you round that up. So, it's coming in lopsided for Joe Biden. There's no reason to assume that it's going to change. Especially because we do know from all of our data that even the ones they've counted so far, the mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania are disproportionately Democratic. So, the math is a possibility. We watched them count them here.

Kate mentioned Philadelphia. It's not just Philadelphia though because the suburbs around Philadelphia are populous and they are absolutely essential to the Democrats and they're missing votes as well, up to about 85 percent in Montgomery County here. I just want to drop down here. Delaware County, 74 percent.

And again, you see the Biden margins in the votes we have counted. So, there's no guarantee that those margins continue. It could get bigger, it could shrink. We don't know. That's why you count votes. But just commonsense tells you, OK, Biden is winning there 59 to 40. Therefore, as they count more votes, he's going to add. Is he going to add enough? That's why you count them, Anderson.

But you just walk around these suburbs. This Montgomery County, you come to Philadelphia here and you just look through. In all of these places you see the blue in southeastern Pennsylvania. That's the foundation of any Democratic win in Pennsylvania has to start here.

And also, last night, the next place you want to look is out here in Allegheny County. They still have more votes to count here as well. Where they need to do the most counting are Democratic areas which means yes, Biden has a chance. Let them count the votes.

COOPER: John, stand by, we have a Key Race Alert.

A key race alert in Michigan. Let's take a look. More votes have been counted, more votes coming in. Joe Biden has widened his lead somewhat, 32,565 votes ahead of Donald Trump. It is still very close in Michigan, but this is very significant. It had been about 10,000 or so votes, the difference between them.

Let's go back to John King. John, Hillary Clinton lost in Michigan, correct me if I'm wrong, by about 10,000 votes. That's what Biden's lead had been up until this moment. He's now extended it to 32,565.

KING: He has. And you look at the map and see a lot of red in the middle, but you see blue where the Democrats need it to be blue. And the main point is down here, Wayne County. It's Detroit and the area around it, by far the largest county in Michigan. 18 percent to 20 percent of the vote is going to come right here in this county.

And again, they're still counting there. The Biden total has grown. He passed President Trump overnight and took the lead. It's not a win, he's leading. But 76 percent of Wayne County.

So, again, a quarter of the vote still to count in a place that we know that's coming in lopsided for the Democrat, 67 percent to 32 percent if you round up there. And so, you see Joe Biden's vote total there, 489,000 plus.

I just want to go back and look, four years ago, the Clinton campaign was disappointed in Wayne County. They wanted more raw votes, if you will. But you see, she had 519,000 and 67 percent of the vote. The president was just at 30 percent of the vote.

We know just about everywhere turnout is up this year. So, if you see that at 519,000, then you come here, Joe Biden is at 489,000. Just logic tells you, the math has to prove it. And again, this is why patience is required but logic tells you, commonsense tells you, they have ballots to count, they're only at 76 percent, that Joe Biden is going to stretch that. And if he sticks anywhere close to that percentage, that means he's adding some pretty serious math as they count those votes.

So, the fact that his lead is widening, and they still have votes to count in Wayne County is an encouraging sign for the Biden campaign. Doesn't get you the finish line but it's encouraging. So, you look at some other places. You come over here. And you're just going through. Now you're going through, right?

The larger counties, the Democratic counties, 82 percent in Kalamazoo. It's closer here. It's about a 10-point gap if you look at it, so you count the votes. Maybe Joe Biden adds more to his lead right now. Maybe the president comes back. That's what we just have to be patient and walk through.

And you see all these red in Michigan. One of the challenges is check in on the smaller places, right? Where we know the president runs it up. It's not a lot of math but every county counts as you add it app. And you see here Clare County, they're at 95 percent.

[11:20:09]

So, one of the challenges now when you get close to the end, it trying to -- where else might there be votes? And is there enough? If you know, Wayne County has a ton of votes to count, that's predominantly Democratic.

Are there places where the president can counter that? Make up that math. A little bit here but you see 95 percent is in. You move here, 96 percent is in. You move here, 99 percent is in.

So, that's why if you're in the Biden campaign, these smaller rural counties that go Republican, most of the votes are in. Again, we'll watch and count. And the morning after sometimes you will see a county official raise their hand and say we have some absentee ballots. There's nothing wrong with that. They were overwhelmed yesterday.

So, we'll watch as the process plays out. Just looking at some other places here. You see in Oakland County. The suburbs north of Detroit, critical area, used to be a swing area. Trending more and more Democratic. They're at 95 percent.

So, they're just about done there. As they continue to count the votes, it's possible Joe Biden has a few more. It's possible. You know there are Republicans in those suburbs, they can pull in votes.

Let's look at Macomb County here. This is a key battleground in the state, blue collar workers. You come north of Detroit into Macomb County and you're 53 percent to 45 percent. 254,000 votes. Here's one of the things I'm looking at throughout the day. Turnout was up in this election.

So, that's where the president is now, 254. If you go back four years ago, he was at 224. So, you see evidence there of the higher turnout. Hillary Clinton at 126,000 and change. You come in here, Joe Biden has already passed that.

So, one of the things you're looking at is do we have vote counts already that are higher than 2016? In places where you don't, you know there are a lot more votes likely to be counted. Here, you're up to 95 percent.

So, if you're the president, this is the place you're winning by eight points. You do that there. You might add some votes but they're at 95 percent. If you're going to add votes, it won't be a ton. And if it's early votes, it might actually break for Joe Biden.

So, this is where you're looking. By the end of the day, Wayne County is at 76 percent right now. Where is Wayne County, Detroit, as we get later into today? If they can move their math, move their count, if you will, closer to the finish line, then we'll have a much better sense of whether that leave 32,000 and change, whether it stands.

But you make a good point. 32,000 now, 10,704 for the president four years ago. If you're Joe Biden, you like these numbers but you got to wait today.

COOPER: And just finally, Kent County in Michigan, which is where Grand Rapids is Grand Rapids is a Democratic area. I know earlier there had been, I think it was in the 70 percent more votes still needed to come in. What does is it look like right now?

KING: We're up to 83 percent which means you have to go. And this is a tight one. This is one the president carried four years ago. The Democrats really want -- this is the -- one of the suburban battles, Grand Rapids and the suburbs around it, out in Western Michigan. You see 51 percent to 47 percent, if you round Joe Biden up. And so, 153,000 votes for the president right now.

If you go back in time, again, he won this, but he was below 50 because of the third-party candidates, 48 percent to 45 percent four years ago. So, it's another place again, because it's larger, right? This is the fourth largest county in Michigan.

So, everywhere is counting what's left. Every single county all across America for that matter, not just in these battleground states, are counting what they didn't get to yesterday. And they're counting what's coming in as long as those are legal. If you're in a state where it can be postmarked and arrive today. If that's legal, then you count them when they come.

But the place we look for - the places we spend most of our time on are places where you're going to find more votes, the larger, more populated counties. In here, they're at 83 percent. So, that means there's more to be counted there. And the president is leading there. So, we want to watch and see.

It doesn't mean those are votes for President Trump, doesn't mean he'll add to his map. But there are still votes to be counted there. But again, the disproportionate amount that we're waiting for right now come from here, which is always the biggest basket of votes for Democrats. The question is, how many are left and how fast will they count them?

COOPER: Yes. Wow. What a day we have ahead of us?

KING: Yes, we do.

COOPER: We're waiting to hear from Michigan's secretary of state expected any minute as our live election coverage continues.

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[11:28:50]

KING: With the electoral map trending somewhat bluer at this hour than it was just a few hours ago, we're waiting to hear from Michigan's secretary of state any moment as Joe Biden stretches his lead in Michigan. We'll go there live when that happens. He had only about a 10,000-vote lead. His lead is now about 35,000 votes or so.

The president and his campaign advisers have just been weighing in on the race and their strategy going forward. The Biden team is also making news. Let's check in with both.

CNN's Jessica Dean is at Biden headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware and CNN's John Harwood reporting on the president.

John Harwood, let's start with you. What are we hearing from the White House today?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're hearing, Anderson, is a reiteration of the strategy that the president has been signaling all year long and the strategy is to try to subvert the process. The Democratic process of vote counting because he knows that more Americans are against him than are for him.

He's been saying so all year. Saying he could only lose in a fraudulent election. Last night he tried it in the middle of the night. He came out and said well, I'm leading in all of these states. I've won the election. Stop the vote counting.

Then this morning, he has noted that vote counts overnight in places like Michigan and Wisconsin, he says, have magically disappeared his lead.