Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Event/Special

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) is Interviewed about the Election; Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) is Interviewed about the Election; Razor- Thin Margin in Pennsylvania; Presidential Race Narrows in Georgia. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 05, 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]

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): And so we need to rally together for the sake of our economy and, frankly, for the sake of the health of -- of our fellow Americans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And 100,000 new cases reported overnight, the highest day yet. When the dust settles on this election, the coronavirus reality will very much still be here. Thank you for pointing that out.

Governor Whitmer, again, to the president, who has been saying and tweeting outlandish things, untrue things about the counting in Michigan, what's your message? Do you worry that what he's doing could lead to violence?

WHITMER: Well, there's no question that efforts to undermine the integrity of and the confidence in this election will have ramifications long past when all the numbers are finally in. And I think that's something that is anti-American, frankly, and that's why I'm hopeful that there are Republicans of good will who will stand up and take it on. We certainly have seen that to be the case in a number of instances. But we, as the United States of America, need to move forward together. We need a leader who can bring us together. And I think that's incumbent on every single one of us to do our part to achieve that goal.

We're not going to agree on everything. We know that. We should have robust debate. We should have a vigorous dialogue. However, at the end of the day, we are all Americans and this country rising to the challenges that we face benefits all of us and we've got to -- we've got to do that and we've got to get there.

BERMAN: Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, thank you for being with us this morning. We appreciate your time.

WHITMER: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, up next, we're going to speak to a Republican lawmaker who is calling on the president -- this is a Republican -- to stop sowing doubt in the vote counting process. Our special live coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:38]

BERMAN: John Berman here. This is CNN's special live coverage of the U.S. election.

In the state of Arizona, just 68,000 votes separate Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Joe Biden is leading. But that number's about half of what it was yesterday. Donald Trump has been closing the gap. How? As votes have been counted, largely in Maricopa County, which is the bulk of the votes in that state, he has been able to put some votes in the bank. Some of the people who voted late there, even late early vote, skewed toward the president. The question is, of the 200,000 plus votes that remain, where do they stand? Democrats think there are more independent voters left in that vote pool. They have tended to vote for more Joe Biden, but we'll see. We just don't know. Arizona very much hangs in the balance at this hour with its 11 electoral votes.

As we wait for that to be counted, and we do expect an update from Arizona over the course of the day, let's go over to Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, John, thank you very much.

Yes, as we wait for more votes to be counted, President Trump attempted to claim victory in key undecided states. He tweeted in unusually formal language, saying, we have claimed for electoral vote purposes the commonwealth of Pennsylvania which won't allow legal observers, the state of Georgia and the state of North Carolina. Additionally, we hereby claim the state of Michigan, if, in fact, there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported.

Fact check, there is no evidence of any secretly dumped ballots there or elsewhere.

Joining us now to talk about this and more we have Republican congressman from Illinois, Adam Kinzinger, and he has just won re- election for his congressional seat.

Congressman, congratulations.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: Let's just talk about that tweet for a second. We hereby claim the state of Michigan. Does using 17th century language make something true?

KINZINGER: No, not necessarily. And, you know, look, I think with that tweet -- I guess -- it's one thing for a president to kind of declare that he thinks he's going to win or even declare victory. That's a bit much. Shouldn't do it.

Where I have a real problem with what's going on is when a president starts alleging voter fraud without evidence of that. Look, if there is voter fraud, trust me, it's going to be discovered because you're going to have people that, quote/unquote, voted that didn't and they're like, I never voted. And there's a place for that, which is the court system.

The problem with throwing out unsubstantiated charges is it undermines faith in democracy. And then when he lose, or maybe even when you win, people aren't going to believe it. And I'll tell you what, I looked all -- at FaceBook last night before I went to bed, which was a mistake just to look at it, and I just -- every one of the stories on my wall were somebody that believed that either 100,000 votes were dumped with only Biden's votes or that Wisconsin had more voters than people registered to vote. None of it is true, but people believe this. This is how this stuff gets spread.

CAMEROTA: And, Congressman, don't you feel like you're yelling at the ocean with this sort of stuff? I mean I read your tweet. So you tweeted on -- last night, just after midnight, which, again, tells me you're checking Twitter in the wee hours of the morning, and you were tweeting because President Trump was trying to suggest that Democrats were somehow stealing the election. And you said, stop. Full stop. The votes will be counted and you will either win or lose and America will accept that. Patience is a virtue.

You know, I don't know, is it making a dent?

KINZINGER: I don't know. It's better to yell at the ocean than drown in it. And the way I look at it is this, I'm responsible for the 700,000 people I represent and my own behavioral. And when I look at this and say, if I can have an impact and at least say, look, just let the votes be counted. Fight it out in court. You know, we can have a Bush v. Gore 2000 if you all want to do this. But what we can't do is to start saying over and over, election fraud, election fraud without evidence because in ten years people -- this is the kind of thing that people then say, well, my vote doesn't count. Why do I -- why do I vote? They're disenfranchised and it leads to a dissolution of the union.

So, you know, Donald Trump may not have to worry or even Joe Biden may not have to worry about election in ten years, but I have a family I have to worry about and so I'm going to fight hard for that.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, I want to get back to your win because I think that it is instructive of what I'm not exactly sure.

[08:40:04]

I mean you had a big win, a huge win, over your Democratic challenger in a state that went 12 points for Biden. And you have always been somebody who I think has been able to straddle this, you know, political divide, which, as of this election and the past, you know, couple of days has felt like it's turned into a canyon. And so I'm not blowing smoke when I say that, do you have any wisdom for Democrats and Republicans today about how we are supposed to, you know, cross that canyon?

KINZINGER: You know, it was a massive victory and I think I ended up getting, you know, many, many thousands more votes than even Donald Trump got in my district. And I think it's this. I think bottom line, I'm still convinced that even if, you know, you take on the president sometimes and the base is mad or the left is mad because I'm actually a conservative Republican, the bottom line, I think there are still people that respect the fact that you believe something and you know it to be true. And I think that's what makes the difference.

And it feels like a lost art right now and I feel like a -- you know, but I think there's a lot of good people in politics that still do it and the key is just do what you think is right. That's it. If you do that and you lose, whatever, you know, you'll go on and be able to look at yourself in the mirror. But I think that's what the district and constituents still respect.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Adam Kinzinger, thank you. We really appreciate your time. Thanks for those words.

KINZINGER: You bet. Take care.

CAMEROTA: Let's go back to John.

BERMAN: All right, thanks so much, Alisyn.

We have some breaking news coming out of Pennsylvania about how many ballots are left to be counted. This is so important. Again, if Joe Biden wins Pennsylvania, or manages to, he wins the election. If President Trump wins there, he has a much clearer path to victory. Knowing how many votes left may be everything. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:53]

BERMAN: All right, John Berman here. This election still very much hangs in the balance and there is one state that could decide it all. That state is Pennsylvania with its 20 electoral votes.

If Joe Biden were to win that, he would win everything. As of this morning, he trails Donald Trump by 164,000 votes. That seems like a lot. It is a lot. But yesterday morning at this time it was more than 600,000 votes. Joe Biden has been closing the margin and closing the margin fast.

The key question when you look at this is how much vote is outstanding and where is that vote left. That could tell us everything in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania could tell us everything about this election.

Let's go to Kate Bolduan now who is live in Philadelphia.

Kate, I understand you have an update on these crucial questions of how much vote and where.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, thanks, John.

It's the name of the game, and it's not a game, it's nothing but entirely serious today, is the number of votes that are left to be counted. And we have updates this morning from two of the biggest counties and also most consequential counties when it comes to which direction Philadelphia is going to be going -- Pennsylvania is going to be going.

Here in Philadelphia, the largest county in Pennsylvania, we've learned this morning that they believe they now have 140,000 votes still to be counted. And we've gotten some clarity on what type of ballot we're talking about here. That number includes mail-in -- the mail-in ballots that we have been tracking so closely, but it also includes in-person Election Day votes from 38 precincts in Philadelphia that have yet to report their total numbers.

But make no mistake, the bulk of that number, the vast majority, the bulk of that number, John, has to do with the mail-in ballots that are being processed in the convention center facility behind me.

We are also getting some new information from Bucks County, which is the most competitive county, suburban county, they call them the collar counties that are right outside of Philadelphia. Bucks County this morning reporting that they still have 28,000 votes to be counted. Those are mail-in ballots that they have left to count and that they are confident that they will wrap it up, that they will finish that count today.

Importantly, another important point, John, is what we're seeing out of Bucks County is a trend that we have heard about and seen throughout Pennsylvania, which is that the mail-in ballots are trending heavily in Joe Biden's favor. Bucks County reporting this morning that 77 percent of the votes in Bucks, mail-in ballots that have come in, those votes in Bucks County have gone to Joe Biden.

There's a sense that while it might not be completely wrapped up in terms of all of the votes and ballots being counted, that today might be the day, John, where there is some real clarity coming out of Pennsylvania in which direction we're talking about the state -- this state going.

BERMAN: Kate Bolduan, I have to say, you are pushing to get us the key answers in the key state that may decide this election. Thank you so much for your work. Keep us posted as these developments come in.

We're also getting some breaking news out of Georgia. This is a state right now where there is also a razor thin margin where Joe Biden has been closing the gap overnight. The answer here involves how many votes are left to be counted. This, too, could be key.

Stand by for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:53:09]

BERMAN: This is CNN's special live coverage of an election that very much hangs in the balance. Any movement in any one of the key states remaining could be decisive.

Let's look at the state of Georgia right now where Donald Trump is clinging, and I mean clinging, to an 18,000 vote lead there. This margin has shrunk a lot overnight. Sixteen electoral votes up for grabs.

Now, this in and of itself would not give Joe Biden victory, but it would bring him much closer and shut off a lot of doors for President Trump.

One of the key questions is, how many votes are left to count? We have breaking news on that.

Let's go right to the ground, CNN's Victor Blackwell is there.

Victor, what have you learned?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The number is 50,000, John, 50,000 votes left to count. We just got that in from the secretary of state's office. And 10,000 to 11,000 of those we know from the director of elections here in Fulton County are here. And the workers here at State Farm Arena are working now to process the last nine trays of ballots. That's about 3,600. They've been working on those for the last hour and a half or so. The last check-in and update that we have is that this is now a new shift. That people have just come in to try to process, open those and they will be scanned in and then sent over to a location to be counted.

We should get those numbers, according to Rick Baron (ph), who leads the process here, by 11:00 this morning. There is a vote review panel that's coming in at 10:00. If anything has to be adjudicated, which simply means determine the intent of the voter through the ballot, instead of filling in a bubble, maybe they drew an x or a circle. There's a panel to determine the intent. So those votes will be counted.

But the last 10,000 to 11,000 here, part of the 50,000 that we're told by the secretary of state that still must be counted here in Georgia.

John.

[08:55:04]

BERMAN: Victor Blackwell in Atlanta, that is crucial news. And 50,000 votes left to count in the state of Georgia. By my math, if Joe Biden were to win 70 percent of that, not impossible, he could take the lead.

We're going to dive into these numbers because they could be decisive. We're heading to the magic wall right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: John Berman here. I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is CNN's special live coverage of an American presidential election that is still undecided at this hour.

[09:00:00]

It is 9:00 a.m. in the East, 6:00 in the West, and votes are still being counted in several key states with razor thin margins.