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CNN Live Event/Special

Joe Biden Takes Lead in Pennsylvania, Thousands Still to be Counted; Airspace Now Restricted Over Biden's Delaware Home; Biden Takes the Lead in Pennsylvania. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 06, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We just noted. We know there's several, still. Many Still. Thousands here in Philadelphia. Joe Biden in the last installment from Philadelphia had 87 percent of the vote. So your expectation is, you see, he's winning 81 percent right now in the total vote. That's election day vote, in line early voting and election day vote, and election day vote -- and mail-in votes, excuse me.

The mail-in votes are even lopsided more disproportionately. So there are some there, you just click around, Montgomery County here is up to 95 percent, so there's a few ballots that could come in during the day. You look here, you come around to Chester County at 95 percent. Want to check down here in Delaware County 95 percent. So they're largely done, right? They're largely done but there are still some more votes to come in.

If they come in from there they're disproportionately Democratic. You come up to Lehigh County now up to 95 percent as well. So they are progressing in this count. But we do know this, we do know this, there are more than 36,000 votes some of which we expect this morning. Later, 5:00 in the evening is when we're told we'll get the bulk of them. Allegheny County, Pittsburgh and the surrounding area.

And look, Joe Biden in the total vote, including election day, is getting nearly 60 percent. And again, every time we see just the mail- in -- the mail-in subset, Joe Biden is 70 percent or higher, and mostly 80 percent or higher. So the trajectory in the map tells you. I just want to come back out and check on Erie County. Again they look for the population centers first, and they're up to 95 percent here.

So we have these ballots out. That tells you, you have a smattering, you some counties, Philadelphia, we know there is a bunch. In the suburbs we know there are some. In Lehigh, as I just said, they are up here to 95 percent. I just want to check up in Lackawanna County which is Scranton up here 95 percent. So you're going to have a couple hundred here, couple hundred here, where we know there are thousands in the city of Philadelphia. And what we know from the last 24 hours is they are trending Joe Biden's way, and quite convincingly. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And there are 20,000 outstanding in

Philadelphia right now and if Biden continues to get 80 -- he got 87 percent the first 30,000 that just came in, if he continues to get 85, let's say, percent of that remaining 20,000 that lead that he has right now, 5500 or whatever it is, is going to go up dramatically.

KING: Right. And, again, even Philadelphia now up to 95 percent. So you're getting -- we're marching closer and closer to a full and complete count. And as David noted, you know, our excellent people out on the decision desk are running the math or checking in with these counties, checking in with statewide officials what's out and you look at the probability.

I mean, statistically we have watched what has happened over the last 24 hours as these mail-in votes have been counted. Again, we came in this morning and there was an 18,000-vote lead for the president, a little bigger than that actually.

And then they started to come in from Philadelphia at the beginning and other places, 18,000, now 5500. So the challenge if you're the president you need to win 52 percent of the remaining outstanding ballots is for votes to come in and for us to see bam, he stopped it.

But we have not seen that in the last 24 hours. Every single place, again, even in these ruby red counties when votes are coming in, they're at 95 percent here, we are seeing because of the way people voted election day, that's all that red, vote by mail, disproportionately overwhelmingly so Democratic. We just saw 87 percent in Philadelphia, we've seen 82 percent, 83 percent as we go through these other counties.

So everything we have seen and everything that has been counted in the last 24 hours tells us that lead is going to grow but our people, very smart people who are out there crunching the numbers, they want to see a few more votes to make sure that the trajectory continues.

BLITZER: Even in the red counties Biden does so much better with these mail-in ballots than he did with the day of ballots.

KING: Right. So you come out here to Westmoreland County in western Pennsylvania. This is a big part of the Trump base, very popular, right? And it's the 10th largest, 67 counties in Pennsylvania. It's the 10th, the president runs it up in the tiny counties. This is a modest county, right? You see the vote totals there. 127 to 69,000. But even here, even here, this is the uniqueness of this election because of the coronavirus and because of the different ways of voting.

The uniqueness of this election is on election day the president runs it up, he gets 64 percent in Westmoreland County. And again, just want to make this point. We go back in time here, 64 percent four years ago when the president carried Pennsylvania. Not a lot changed in terms of the county swinging back and forth, what changed is more people voted, and the Democrats at the moment are winning the turnout war in Pennsylvania. But even when this happened, the president gets 64 percent. When they

count just the mail-in ballots, Joe Biden is getting 70 percent or 80 percent or higher because that's how Democrats voted. There's nothing wrong with that, they're just counting votes. They counted the election day first, the president posted a big lead not only in Westmoreland County but statewide. Again, the lead here was up above 600,000 votes because they counted the election day balloting first. As they count the other ballots you see 5587 and counting.

BLITZER: The Democrats -- a lot of Democrats wanted to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic. They didn't necessarily want to wait in long lines at polling stations on election day. Republicans, on the other hand, were told by the president don't use the mail in, go vote personally.

KING: You had two very different strategies and the challenge today is to see if Joe Biden crosses the finish line. It looks very likely that that could happen. Now there will be challenges, they will go back and recheck the ballots and everything, there might be recounts in some of these states, but we are potentially within minutes even if not hours of Joe Biden crossing the threshold. That's the challenge, that's the immediate challenge.

But to your point one of the lessons of this pandemic election will be if you make it easier for people to vote, meaning expanding the options, mail-in or expanded early voting where you can vote in person, drop boxes, although that's a controversy in some states, and election day turnout, what happens?

[09:05:13]

Both candidates get more votes, both political parties get significantly more votes than they did. More people participate in a democracy no matter who wins. That's a win right there. And you see Joe Biden 73.8 million votes. Joe Biden is going to hit 74 million votes today as we count these votes. The president of the United States could well reach 70 million votes.

Let's just go back in time to the last election, 65, 62, four years ago Hillary Clinton wins the popular vote but loses because of the electoral college, and again Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. Won the popular vote. Right? You see there 65 to 62, fast forward, 73 to 70 if you round the president up there with the votes still coming in. Joe Biden could well reach 75 million votes.

So in this pandemic election the challenges of voting, the safety issues and the like, expand the opportunities, expand the ways you can vote plus the intensity. Let's make no mistake about that.

There's intensity on both sides in this election because of our polarized politics. You get more voters. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. Now we count them. And again, the decisive moment we are at is because that has gone from red to blue, that has gone from red to blue overnight.

Joe Biden now beyond knocking at the door, he is on the verge of getting 270 electoral votes if that trend line continues in Pennsylvania. Let's just take a look, we haven't seen this in some time, still 1,097 there. So these are very narrow leads for Joe Biden but again the trajectory has been methodically chipping away at the president's leads in both of those states, now starting to methodically build leads of his own as we count more votes in Georgia and in Pennsylvania.

BLITZER: Yes. Biden is now ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania by 5,587 votes. Significant, Jake, because that number almost certainly is going to go up in the next hour or two or three. Biden is going to build his lead in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Wolf. We are witnessing democracy in action. We are witnessing history in the making. Joe Biden on the verge of becoming the next 46th president of the United States. We have not declared Pennsylvania or Georgia or Arizona or Nevada yet, but he leads in all four states, as they count the legally cast votes by the American people in those four states.

Let's check in with Jeff Zeleny who covers the Biden campaign for us. He's in Wilmington, Delaware.

Jeff, we are on the edge of a historic moment right now.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We are indeed, Jake, and there are many signs happening here in Wilmington and around Delaware that are pointing to this moment almost happening. Yes, Joe Biden if he were to be elected would be the oldest president in the U.S. There is much history being -- happening here. We will get to that when it comes. But there are also some urgent things happening right now.

There is a National Defense Air Space I'm told that has been placed over the Biden's home. This is coming from our aviation correspondent Pete Muntean who says there will be a National Defense Air Space that is put over the Biden home which is protocol here when something like this is on the verge of happening.

We have also seen with our own eyes in recent days and certainly in the last several hours there are more Secret Service agents present and they are beefing up their force which comes with every president- elect. So when that happens they will be in place with the former vice president, they will become part of Joe Biden's detail should that happen.

So, Jake, there are a variety of things happening here in Wilmington that, of course, are amplifying what is happening on the ground in Pennsylvania and indeed those other battleground states across the country. We are still not aware of when there would be a speech today here in Wilmington, but, again, that stage is still set up behind us. So many things happening behind the scenes, but security is changing here, Jake, and that is because of what's happening in Pennsylvania -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much. And, Dana Bash, one of the things that you have to give Joe Biden

credit for, although, again, we have not declared anything, is it is incredibly difficult to defeat an incumbent president.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

TAPPER: It has only happened, I believe, four other times in American history. And Joe Biden is on the verge of making it happen a fifth time.

BASH: That's right. Most one-term presidents are one term for other reasons not because they tried and failed. And Joe Biden has tried and failed before to be president and it looks like the third time might be a charm if we look at the vote totals on the right of the screen there.

And there is going to be a lot to discuss about how he got to this place. The unlikely, absolutely, you know -- the path that he took which is unlike most Democratic nominees that we have seen or nominees of both parties, even though he is about as traditional a politician as we can imagine.

[09:10:02]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, this is a study in contrasts where you have a Joe Biden who has been in politics and in American life for decades going up against a president who is unlike any president we've ever had, and I do think that it's, as you pointed out, Jake, not just because it's so difficult to unseat an incumbent, but this particular incumbent is somewhat who is frankly if we're being honest a political force.

Look at what he did to bring out voters that even Republicans didn't think were out there. This was a tough fight. There were some Democrats perhaps who thought it was going to be easy, but it was stuff and this race is tight. And Joe Biden, I think, understands that, yes, it was hard to get there, but if he goes over the top and this race is called in his favor, the real battle is going to begin tomorrow, the day after, the day after that.

One thing I'll say about where we are tonight, I think we should be clear with people. We have not called this race. All the votes have not been counted. But two things are happening, the president if he thinks he has a good shot at winning should be the one clamoring for as many votes to be counted as possible. He is not doing that. Right now the other thing that is happening is that on the board right now Joe Biden is leading in almost all of the states that are uncounted.

For President Trump to turn that around is going to be a herculean effort.

BASH: Yes.

PHILLIP: It's going to take a significant effort and it's going to take a lot of votes. And so I think we should be clear that this is an uncalled race, but the task at hand for President Trump to turn this around, the bar is very high.

BASH: It is uncalled, but we all know because we have covered campaigns and these moments when a candidate is on the cusp of winning, which means the opponent is on the cusp of losing, a phone call generally happens.

PHILLIP: Yes.

BASH: It happened four years ago, I remember getting from a source who was with Donald Trump the phone rang and it was Hillary Clinton conceding. And none of us should expect that to happen anytime soon. It is one of a million reasons why this is completely unconventional, but it doesn't mean that if those votes come in in Pennsylvania and are really showing a substantial lead in a way that Donald Trump can't overcome, it doesn't make that any less real.

TAPPER: Well, and let's be honest, because a concession is not necessary under the U.S. Constitution.

BASH: That's what I mean, it doesn't make it any less real.

TAPPER: It's not necessary. Whether or not Donald Trump acts like an adult if Joe Biden becomes the next president, Joe Biden will become the next president and Donald Trump will be, if it comes down to it, physically escorted from the building if it comes down to it, if he just refuses to acknowledge reality.

But the fact that, as we just heard from Jeff Zeleny in Wilmington, Secret Service are -- agents are increasing their presence around the former vice president, Joe Biden, that there is now air protection above him, underlines the seriousness of this moment, the seriousness with which officials, whether in the military or the U.S. Secret Service, take potential threats against Joe Biden.

That's why the Secret Service agents are there. That's why they're clearing the air space over his house in Delaware. And this is why I say, again, it is time for Republican leaders, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and others, people in the White House who should know better, it is time for them to start preparing President Trump for the bad news because it looks like that is where we are headed and there are a number of Republican elected officials, including those who have been putting out mealy mouth statements this morning about election integrity, acting as if this is like some sort of both sides story when it isn't.

BASH: It is not.

TAPPER: People have to decide which they love more, the United States of America and the American people or one singular politician.

BASH: So the question is -- it's a really, really good point and the question is what is the M.O. of the Republican leadership going to be? Is it going to be a Howard Baker-like march down Pennsylvania Avenue to talk to the president and say, game over? You're done? Or is it going to be a strategy to just ignore the noise that's going on and move on with the business of transitioning to a new presidency? And I could see both happening and frankly the latter given the way

that these Republicans have been so, frankly, afraid to confront President Trump.

TAPPER: And so weak.

BASH: And their base is still the same, if not more galvanized right now, I can't see that changing.

PHILLIP: They are more afraid now. They are more afraid now. There is no question about it.

[09:15:00]

That what happened on Tuesday was that many Republicans live to see another day because of the turnout that Donald Trump was able to bring out in their districts and in certain states.

But it wasn't -- it may not be enough for Donald Trump, but it was enough for them. They are beholden to this president, so that's why you're seeing, you know, these really weak -- I mean, they're weak statements, even from Mitt Romney who has been a strong critic of the president, his statement was very milquetoast.

And I think you're going to see more of that. We've been asking for months, will the president have a peaceful transfer of power? Will he agree to that? It's been a theoretical question. Well, it may not be theoretical in just a few hours potentially. This is where the rubber meets the road. When we talk about a peaceful transfer of power, a concession is not required, but it is the right thing to do. It is the thing that causes a peaceful transfer of power to happen.

TAPPER: And just to underline what we're talking about, this is not just a matter of good manners, this is not just a matter of grace, this is a matter of life and death. There have been arrests made, somebody was arrested driving up to the Philadelphia Convention Center because of the nonsense, I assume, repeated by Republicans on "Fox".

We should actually take -- I don't normally talk about any competing network, but the Murdochs and the people at "Fox" have an obligation to put their country above their profits. It is very important that people make it very clear that this election, there is no credible evidence that we have seen of widespread fraud, by all accounts, Joe Biden is on the precipice of becoming the next president, fair and square.

And people who have the privilege of sitting in seats like we're sitting in right now have the obligation to convey that to their viewers so that there is a peaceful transfer of power, and so that there isn't violence.

BASH: And can we just talk about one of the things you just mentioned there, which is we are on the cusp of Joe Biden very likely becoming the 46th president of the United States. We are literally just waiting for a wave of votes to come in as Pennsylvania counts the votes. This is not something that we are supposing, this is something that Democrats inside the Biden campaign, Republicans inside the Trump campaign are expecting and waiting for. It's a matter of time right now.

And this is a moment in history, it really is, and it's not -- and it's not just a run-of-the-mill presidential election. This is a Democrat who decided to run, came out of retirement to defeat a president potentially as we expect it to happen who he thought was an existential threat to democracy.

PHILLIP: And I think we should also talk about what John King was talking about not too long ago. We are about to -- in Pennsylvania, we're waiting for some votes, but if Joe Biden performs the way he's been performing, he could end up with a margin in Pennsylvania that is about what Donald Trump won by in that state four years ago, same is true of Michigan where Joe Biden right now is well ahead of where Donald Trump won that state four years ago, Wisconsin, the same thing. At the end of the day, if this map stays the way that it is, yes, this is a deeply divided country, but it is possible that Joe Biden could end up with upwards of 300 --

BASH: Yes --

PHILLIP: Electoral votes --

BASH: Which is --

PHILLIP: At the end of the day, which would be -- look, it would be notable and extraordinary and as extraordinary as what we saw four years ago. Donald Trump came out of that election with a mandate. You're going to see the Biden campaign trying to negotiate what this means for him.

There is some kind of mandate coming out with a large electoral college lead, but they also understand that the division in this country, he can't lead like Donald Trump led, he has to take it a different direction because that's -- if he wins this election, it would be because he is not the Donald Trump of this election.

TAPPER: Yes, and it is -- it is possible that he will have the exact same electoral count that Donald Trump had, I think it's 305 electoral --

PHILLIP: Three hundred and six --

TAPPER: Three hundred and six electoral votes. But something else, is that he will have a popular vote margin --

PHILLIP: That is --

TAPPER: Of victory --

PHILLIP: Right --

TAPPER: That Donald Trump did not have. Donald Trump lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, and it looks like Joe Biden will have a popular vote victory, right now it's in excess of 4 million votes, it could be even higher.

[09:20:00]

PHILLIP: And more -- and more votes than any presidential candidate --

TAPPER: Yes --

BASH: Yes --

PHILLIP: In history because of the turnout that we've seen in this election.

BASH: And you know, we could wait for the moment to happen or we could talk about it now. We're going to see a major moment in history. The first female vice president it looks like is going to happen.

TAPPER: Of color.

BASH: For the first time, and a female of color in America. You know, women have been waiting a long time to see representation at the highest levels of government, it may not be the president, but it's right below that, and there is going to be -- it's going to be pretty remarkable to watch that. You know, I think that even women who are not supportive of this ticket would, you know, take the hat off to the notion of a woman being there.

PHILLIP: And can I just -- can I just say for black women, this has been really a proving moment for their political strength, and carrying Joe Biden to the Democratic nomination through the primary. Black women did that.

And I think seeing a black woman on the ticket with Joe Biden, on the cusp of this moment, I think is something that will go down in history because this has never happened before, and not only did -- would black women put Joe Biden in the White House, but they would also put a black woman in the White House as well, and that is the sort of historical poetry that I think we will live with for a long time, in addition to the fact that Donald Trump's political career began with the racist birther lie, it may very well end with a black woman in the White House.

BASH: Well said.

TAPPER: It's a lovely nice --

BASH: Well said --

TAPPER: It's a lovely thought. And one of the things that I'm really hoping for is, I'm hoping that, that space for that moment, for the United States and for the American people, should the election continue to go in the direction we believe it is, I hope that space is allowed to happen where people are allowed to come together and celebrate this achievement for the United States.

I remember when Nancy Pelosi became the first female speaker of the House of Representatives, there was a Republican Congressman from Florida named Adam Putnam who had four daughters, and very conservative Republican, and he took the moment to acknowledge what a wonderful achievement it was that Nancy Pelosi became the speaker of the house, the first female, even though he disagreed with her on everything.

I hope Republicans have the same dignity and decency to allow the nation to come together to celebrate this achievement, but that of course depends quite a bit on what President Trump does and what those around him do, and whether or not Republican leaders in Congress are willing to stand up and make the president smell the coffee.

Joe Biden is now on the verge of winning the White House, just moments ago taking the lead in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we are expecting more votes soon from the Keystone State, a state that has never earned that title more than this year. Our special coverage continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

BLITZER: Very dramatic development just occurred. Pennsylvania, Biden is now ahead by 5,587 votes, 49.4 percent to 49.3 percent. I'm here with John King. Pamela Brown is taking a closer look at where the outstanding votes in Pennsylvania are right now. What are you learning, Pamela?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We're learning that we should be expecting more results throughout the morning and the day. I mean, when you look at Pennsylvania overall, taking a step back, there are 163,000 mail-in ballots left to count. So, let's look a little bit closer into where those remaining ballots are.

We know Philadelphia, we just got a big dump there around 30,000 ballots, we're waiting for 25,000 ballots that are left to count. I'm told by a source that this batch could take a while, these ballots are going to take longer to process. Ten thousand damaged ballots need to be rescanned, that's part of what's going on there in Philadelphia.

But we have Allegheny County which had a pause counting yesterday because of a legal issue, they're restarting today, they have 35,000 ballots left to count, of course, Allegheny County is the home of Pittsburgh, Democratic-leaning area of Pennsylvania, 7,000 damaged ballots need evaluation there, so that again -- that lengthens the process. The new -- look a little bit closer, Bucks County, that is a collar county right outside of Philadelphia, Philadelphia suburb 7,000 ballots left to count there, 2,000 affected ballots need evaluation.

So, all of that of course plays into the count. But we are expecting these results soon, and we should mention, there are other counties that we are expecting results from, particularly right outside of Philadelphia, they are some of the biggest counties, I'm talking about Montgomery and other counties there. We reached out, we're trying to find out, but overall, what's outstanding beyond what I just laid out there from these counties is a few hundred to a few thousand ballots we are waiting on.

BLITZER: Very interesting indeed. You know, John King, we take a look at Pennsylvania, we can't over emphasize how important the 20 electoral votes in Pennsylvania are.

KING: It's the biggest state prize on the board as we come to this decisive moment, potentially decisive moment, 20 electoral votes, Joe Biden does not need them, but this state alone would get him across the finish line to 273. President Trump cannot be re-elected, cannot get to 270 without this.

And there you see Joe Biden 5,587 votes ahead, and what Pamela Brown just told you is critical to understanding, yes, there are 130,000, 150,000 votes still out there. And where are they going to come from, well, we know some of them are right here in Philadelphia, right? So votes are going to come in, in Philadelphia, we're at 95 percent, you see how deep blue this is, 81 percent.

The president of the United States is trailing now. He needs about 53 percent of the remaining votes to catch Joe Biden and to retake the lead in Pennsylvania. So, the president needs 53 percent of the votes, the votes are coming from places where Joe Biden is getting 80 percent or more of the votes. So the probability meter tells you that's not likely to happen. We'll continue to count the votes.