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CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Projects Joe Biden Will Be 46th President Of The United States; Cities Celebrate Biden Victory & Harris Becoming First Woman Elected As U.S. Vice President; Rep Barbara Lee (D-CA) Discusses Biden, Harris Election; Pennsylvania Pushes Biden Over The Finish Line; Trump Refuses To Concede, Plans To Push Case. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired November 07, 2020 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:42]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper, alongside Erin Burnett. We want to welcome you here, all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.
It is official, CNN projects that Joe Biden will be the 46th president of the United States, defeating incumbent President Donald J. Trump after more than four days of vote counting which is still not finished, and months of a bitter and contentious campaign.
President-elect Biden's victory is clinched thanks to the state of Pennsylvania where he was born.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Anderson, a state that he was confident from very early on would turn in his favor as indeed it has.
The third time proving to be the charm for Biden. He did come up short in his prior two presidential bids, never gave up. And here he is, the president-elect, the oldest person ever to hold the nation's highest office. He will be 78 when sworn in.
Also making history is his running mate, Kamala Harris, of course the first woman and the first person of color to serve as vice president, making history today, Anderson.
COOPER: Yeah, crowds have been pouring into the streets in celebration across the country today. You are looking at a scene there in San Francisco as voters delivered a decisive repudiation of President Trump, massive voter turnout for President-elect Biden, and also for President Trump. His supporters came out and president Trump did a very effective job in the final weeks of the campaign mobilizing his voters in a number of rural areas but it wasn't enough in the final analysis.
At the scene in Washington, D.C., what is significant about that, that is actually the church where President Trump famously cleared protesters from and marched to that church to pose in front of it with a bible. That church now is a very different scene today as thousands of people in Washington, D.C. began to gather outside the White House in celebration of the defeat of President Trump and that crowd only seems to have grown over the last few hours. In just a few hours, President-elect Biden will deliver a victory
speech at 8:00 p.m. East Coast time in the United States. President Trump for his part shows no sign of admitting defeat, has not reached out to Biden even as leaders worldwide have delivered messages of congratulations to the president-elect.
We want to go to CNN's Jeff Zeleny who's at the Biden headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.
So, we expect Biden to address the nation tonight. What do you know about it?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we do. President-elect Joe Biden will address the nation tonight right here in Wilmington about 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. I'm told that speech has largely been written for several days. Of course this was the speech he hoped to deliver on Tuesday night, on Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night.
Now, finally, tonight, he'll be able to do it, but he has been making last-minute adjustments to it. But I'm told that the overall theme is going to be one we've heard from him for several days -- one of unifying, one of reaching out to Americans who did not vote for him as well as those who did.
He will be talking about also the central challenge facing this country -- coronavirus -- and why it is time to come together. But we do have some words from the former vice president in a statement he released a short time after he was projected the winner.
Let's take a look at those words together. He says this. He said: I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and Vice President-elect Harris. In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted, proving once again that democracy beats deep in the heart of America. With the campaign over, it's time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.
It's time for America to unite, he says, and to heal. We are the United States of America. And there's nothing we can't do, if we do it together.
So, those themes will be the central framework of his message here this evening. Also on stage of course, his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, who is going to make history in her own right as the first woman to be vice president of the United States, the first woman of color as well. She, of course, started this campaign as a competitor of his.
They had several interesting moments but for the last months has been his partner in this campaign and will be tonight on stage as well.
I am told that the former vice president now president-elect has spent several hours with his family at his home here in Wilmington talking to old friends and allies, Democratic leaders on the phone, as well.
[16:05:05]
So, clearly, getting ready for what is the biggest speech tonight that really sets off the tone for his transition and of course his first term -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jeff Zeleny -- Jeff, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
I want to go straight to the White House now and CNN's Kaitlan Collins.
So, Kaitlan, we know the president was on the golf course earlier today when the -- or was on his way when the call was made by CNN and then other news organizations as well, when also as he was on the golf course when obviously that news was conveyed to the entire world that he was going to be a one-term president.
What have -- what are you hearing from -- from the White House, from people close to him?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been incredibly quiet. A lot of White House aides we reported yesterday, the reality had set in for them that the president was not going to be re-elected likely. So they knew what was happening but it wasn't clear that the president had realized what was going on and that he was not going to be re-elected. Of course, it still doesn't if you look at his Twitter feed today claiming that he won the election when obviously he hadn't.
And so, you're right. When he left the White House today, the call had not been made by CNN yet that Joe Biden was going to win the presidency. So there was no crowd like there is now outside the White House but when he returned and for those who don't know, the president takes a motorcade to get to his golf course outside of Virginia.
It actually took a little longer for him to get back given they had to clear the streets of people who were celebrating Joe Biden's win and obviously a lot of them are Biden supporters and, of course, have Biden flags, Biden signs, and that is what the president saw as he made his way back to the White House.
He waved to reporters but he went inside, Anderson. He did not make any comments. The White House has called a lid, meaning we do not expect to hear from the president at least not in person tonight.
And, of course, he has continued to refuse to concede this election to Joe Biden. He hasn't spoken with Joe Biden. He hasn't made any calls to him. He certainly hasn't invited him to the White House as you traditionally see as Barack Obama did when Donald Trump won the presidency.
They came into the White House and had a meeting in November, something you often see president Trump reference.
And so, the president is continuing with his grievances to claim that he won this election even though he didn't and as his evidence or his campaign is continuing to push without evidence that this election was stolen from him. So that is something they're continuing to pursue.
How long they can keep that up is another question because of course a transition does have to take place. They do have to do basics like transitions when it comes to the coronavirus task force, and how that will proceed we'll find out in the coming days. But as the president is refusing to acknowledge Joe Biden's win, he is pretty much the only one, because you are seeing some Republicans be quiet, but we are seeing former Republican presidents like George W. Bush acknowledge it, Mitt Romney, a former presidential candidate, who is a Republican of course.
And so, the question is, it seems like it's only a matter of time before the president, himself, maybe he doesn't do so jubilantly but he is going to have to acknowledge the fact that he is not going to be president again after he finishes up the next 70 days or so in office.
COOPER: Kaitlan, it is a remarkable image that you tell us about that President Trump as he is returning from a golf course after learning that he is going to be a one-term president that he has lost this election, an election in which there are winners and losers, and he has lost this, this one going, basically being, having difficulty getting through because the crowds were there celebrating his loss.
It's -- I mean, you know, sort of want to be a fly on the wall of the limousine wondering what that is like. You can imagine what that is like.
COLLINS: And also, keep in mind, his chief of staff a top aide with him every day this week is not because he is isolating at home now that he has coronavirus. So the president actually there is still a question of who exactly it was the president played golf with today because often you see some celebrities with him. We did not see that in the videos our team got of the president actually on the golf course as this announcement was made.
And then he came back here. And you noted that church of course that is right here outside of the White House by Lafayette Square, how that was also the scene of where the president came and took his picture as they forcefully cleared out peaceful protesters. I remember that because I was standing right where I am now on that day when that happened amid those George Floyd police brutality protests.
But, Anderson, that is also the church the president went to the day he was inaugurated in January of 2017 when he was first a newcomer here in Washington. So that church has actually played a pretty significant role in Donald Trump's time in office. From the day he was inaugurated to one of the most critical moments of his presidency that will be scrutinized for decades to come, to now it is where people have gathered by the thousands to celebrate the fact that he is not going to be president than Joe Biden is.
COOPER: Just to be clear though. He wasn't going to that church every Sunday.
[16:10:02] COLLINS: No. He certainly wasn't. It is a church he's gone to on some special occasions. Easter at times though mostly he is down in Mar-a- Lago in West Palm Beach for Easter. But he was -- he started his presidency there, his first time in Washington. It is not somewhere he regularly goes to church.
He went there in May, of course, during that moment as they cleared the protesters out and then now today it is the scene of these protests -- or excuse me, these celebrations after being the scene of the protests.
COOPER: Yeah, obviously, we'll see what the president chooses to do and how he chooses to behave moving forward, whether he does concede and reaches out to Joe Biden as is tradition.
Kaitlan Collins, thanks very much. We'll check in with you a little later on.
Erin?
BURNETT: And, you know, Kaitlan using the word celebration, that is what we are seeing at this moment. Really it's just been a few hours, right, a few hours for this country to start to digest the significant decision that voters have made, the significant change that is about to happen in this country.
Even though, yes. There are still so many questions about what president Trump will do, how he will handle it, so much uncertainty at this moment. It is a moment of jubilation for many.
Let's go to our Vivian Salama, she's outside of the White House in the crowd there that Kaitlan was just referring to.
And, Vivian, what are you seeing right now?
VIVIAN SALAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erin, almost since the moment the race was called for President-elect Joe Biden, people have been flooding into downtown D.C., exactly where Kaitlan was describing. I am standing right now for those not familiar with D.C., I'm standing on "H" street which was the scene of some of those very, very confrontational protests over the summer, the George Floyd protests. And we are at the corner of the Black Lives Matter plaza exactly where that church was that president Trump went and waved the bible during the protests over the summer.
And now, it has become a scene of celebration, people chanting for change. They're happy to have a-did shall to usher in a new era right now. Obviously, a lot of Biden supporters have come out here, a lot of folks on the left. I am looking at a sign right over our cameraman's shoulder right now. It says Republican voters against Trump and there is a group of those people as well.
And so, it's a mixed bag of people here. I want to also pan this way. This is the unscalable fence -- Anderson and I were talking about on the air the other day. It's become a bit of a shrine ever since the George Floyd protest. You see signs supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement but, also,
just a chance for the left, you have pictures of RBG who passed away a couple weeks ago. You have pictures of the late congressman John Lewis and Elijah Cummings, heroes for many on the left. People were chanting for Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a little while ago as well. And so, obviously, not just a celebration for Joe Biden but for the left in general here in D.C. today -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Vivian, thank you very much.
So, you know, as they are still counting votes, right, in Georgia, elsewhere, but in Georgia, you know, no one knows which way this is going to go, still definition of a battleground.
I want to bring in CNN's Natasha Chen in Atlanta.
Natasha, I'm curious what you're seeing. You know, I don't know if anyone is just joining us now but a few moments ago, we were joined by Gary Tuchman also in Atlanta and he was sort of being jostled around by a very excited and happy crowd in a way he said he had not experienced in 30 years of political reporting. That it is that unusual.
What are you seeing where you are in Atlanta?
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Erin, we are actually in Freedom Park. That is on John Lewis Memorial parkway. So that is of significance for all of the people celebrating here.
It's a party that Georgia Democrats have been waiting for, for decades. I want to mention that there are people now with signs and t- shirts that say, Warnock, that say Ossoff because they know what is ahead. This is not just a celebration of what happened today, this week, but a look ahead at the run-offs, the critical run-offs that will determine the balance of the Senate. And they know that the eyes of the country are going to be on Georgia in the coming weeks and months.
Something else that we've definitely seen here is people thanking Stacey Abrams, a lot of signs here with her name on it. She, of course, ran for governor as the Democratic nominee two years ago in Georgia and they are thanking her for developing that momentum and the work on the ground to build up this movement so that people could show from Georgia to the rest of the country that this is indeed a battleground state.
This has been a party atmosphere. We've had drag queens and inflatable dinosaurs, I saw a child with an entire bucket of their Halloween candy the parents are just letting them have at it. Of course, lots of honking going on.
Again, John Lewis Freedom Parkway in Atlanta which of course is significant, named after the late Representative John Lewis, and people here are thanking him on their signs as well, Erin.
[16:15:04] BURNETT: All right. Natasha, Natasha mentioning Georgia. A battleground, still, right in the presidential election as we have the count and the anticipated recount. But you have two crucial Senate seats that will determine the split for the U.S. Senate going to run- off in Georgia.
And one of those running is Reverend Warnock. He's going to be with us later on, these couple of hours with myself and Anderson. So, we'll look forward to that interview.
So, Anderson, wow, if people thought a lot of money went into Jamie Harrison in South Carolina I think they've seen nothing yet when it comes to what we are about to see in these Georgia Senate run-offs.
COOPER: Yeah, there's no doubt about that. And I think taking a cue from what Natasha said about what she witnessed, if there are any kids who are watching, this would be -- if your parents are Democrats, this would be a good time to approach them if you want to eat all of your Halloween candy right away. This might be the best opportunity.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: I want to bring in CNN senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson, and host of CNN's "SMERCONISH", Michael Smerconish.
Nia, what's your reaction to CNN projecting Biden as the winner and also to President Trump not at this point conceding?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, not a surprise that Donald Trump isn't going to concede. I don't necessarily expect him to. I think this is a real moment for Americans, particularly marginalized Americans who have felt such stress, such anxiety, such fear during Trump's presidency.
You know, a couple more months to go for this. I am getting so many text messages from people who just are feeling like a nightmare is coming to an end. A friend of mine who lives in South Carolina, his mother is 82 years old, voted for the first time in a presidential election and now feels like the world has been turned right again.
So, those are the emotions we're seeing, these spontaneous celebrations all across this country. This was a long time coming. I think we first saw this outpouring when Donald Trump was elected, outrage and fear about what his presidency would be, and then people started to get involved, to get activated. So we are seeing the fruits of that now with this massive win that he's had all across the country and flipping all of these states that Clinton lost in 2016, states like Georgia, states like Arizona.
So, we'll see what Biden's presidency will mean for folks going forward, but for now, just tremendous joy for millions and millions of Americans across the country.
COOPER: Michael Smerconish, it is -- I mean, it's interesting point that Nia-Malika is making that even, I mean, this is sort of for people who are out in the streets today, this goes beyond just seems like happy that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won. It's -- this, it seems like a celebration of some sort of sense of relief.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Can I say this, Joe Biden's life of public service twice beset by tragedy is getting the Hollywood ending and the movie is Rocky because this is very much, I think, a Philadelphia story, very much a Pennsylvania story. I know that many took umbrage when the president said bad things happen in Philadelphia. I know that one of those who took umbrage was Bob Brady, the former member of Congress, who is the head of the city committee, the Democratic Party in Philadelphia.
And the sort of full circle came today when it was Brady who told the president-elect the votes are about to get dropped that will put you over the top. And within minutes of that conversation happening, came the call that was made in the race.
Jill Biden, the future first lady, is a product of the Philadelphia suburbs. Joe Biden has long been regarded as a third senator from Pennsylvania. I was close to Senator Arlen Specter. I remember the relationship Senators Specter and Biden shared together, both of them aficionados of taking that train.
So you'll pardon me for being local, Anderson, but it is very much a Pennsylvania story and for fans of the president-elect, poetic justice that it was Pennsylvania that put him over the top.
COOPER: And, Michael, I mean, to your point, it's also, you know, Pennsylvania is where obviously President-elect Biden was born. It was on this day I believe 48 years ago that he was first elected to the Senate.
SMERCONISH: You know, I have a distinct memory. So many things are running through my mind. It's been such a long, strange trip these last four or five years. I'm just saying that as an observer.
But one of the remembrances that I have is interviewing then Vice President Biden in the waning days of the campaign four years ago, and the interview I did with him came within a week of him having been at a Philadelphia Eagles game participating in a flag unfurling ceremony at the beginning of the game where there was this raucous round of applause for him.
[16:20:08]
Anderson, you have to understand, nobody gets a round of applause at Eagles games unless you're wearing an Eagles jersey.
COOPER: I've heard.
SMERCONISH: So one of the ice breakers I used with him before the interview began was to tell him -- I was in the stands. In fact, I was there with my father, and how we were both marveling having been eagles season ticket holders for years at the ovation he received at an Eagles game. He got a big kick out of that.
COOPER: That is from what I hear and understand a very rare thing indeed. Nia-Malika the challenges though, obviously there are just as many people in the streets celebrating. There are just as many of those people who are unhappy today, but the challenge is that this administration will be facing not just in the transition, particularly depending how the White House, how President Trump decides to behave in the weeks ahead, because there is not only a tradition of cooperation, there is a necessity of cooperation for a smooth transition and for the proper functioning of government.
But the challenges this administration is going to face from Republicans and also from the left wing of its own party.
HENDERSON: I think that's right. In solving the challenge that was part of the central message of Biden's campaign which was COVID, which is a health crisis and also an economic crisis, and what do you do if he ends up having a Republican Senate. That will, of course, be settled in January, but is Mitch McConnell going to come into office if he does saying that he wants to be a blockade to whatever Biden and his vice president want to do? And then, of course, you have those internal tensions.
But for now people are just in this moment feeling a sense of relief, feeling a sense of happiness, feeling a sense of history as well. You think about Vice President-elect Kamala Harris being vice president in a country that has never seen this before. You know, I am not that old but I grew up at a time when I couldn't even find black dolls. I couldn't even find books with reflections of back kids growing up.
So the kind of journey this country has been on with people like Shirley Chisholm, people like Sojourner Truth, people like Fannie Lou Hamer making this moment happen and, of course, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris making history today, and that's part of the joy I think people are feeling today.
COOPER: Yeah, Nia, such an important point that you said just as the election of President Trump four years ago made many people who felt their voices weren't being heard, it made them feel heard, the sense you see in some of the crowds is just this sense of relief on the part of many people who not only haven't felt heard over the last four years but actually felt afraid over the last four years, or suddenly as if the ground has shifted under them and they no longer feel -- they feel that they have been respected, that others have been emboldened to give voice to and vent to, you know, vile remarks and rhetoric toward them.
HENDERSON: No, I think that's right. Donald Trump made certain people feel like they weren't truly Americans. He was incredibly racially divisive. He continues to be racially divisive even on his way out as he sort of makes it seem like places like Philly and Detroit have robbed him of a second term.
So, you see in those huge crowds diversity, right? You see the LGBTQ flag flying there. Young folks of all different ethnic backgrounds and old people as well.
If you think about the kind of coalition that Biden has, it might be one of the most diverse we've ever seen. Not only did he do well, much better than Hillary Clinton, much better than Barack Obama with groups like white working-class Americans, he also has done well with older, white Americans, older Americans of all backgrounds and the younger Americans as well.
And so, you see those folks out in those streets in a way that we'd seen before. Black Lives Matter protests, women's marches as well. And so, they have knitted together this coalition, a coalition that they feel hopeful that Biden can recognize their cries for inclusion and for diversity and those are cries that obviously Donald Trump ignored and tried to exploit to gin up support among white Americans.
So, we'll see what this means for the kind of presidency he can have in trying to keep that coalition together.
COOPER: Yeah, it is just an extraordinary outpouring though into the streets over the last several hours that we have witnessed. Michael Smerconish, thank you. Nia-Malika Henderson as well.
Our coverage continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:29:15]
COOPER: Welcome back to our continuing coverage. Want to go to the West Coast where people are celebrating Biden's victory, President- elect Biden's victory in the streets and the history making day for his running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, becoming the first woman elected to serve as vice president.
Let's bring in Josh Campbell in Los Angeles.
Josh, what's the scene there?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, yeah, we're here in downtown Los Angeles, near city hall. You can see behind me a crowd here of a couple thousand people that have gathered to come out celebrating this Biden/Harris victory.
And it's special for this crowd for a couple reasons, the first being this is senator and now Vice President-elect Kamala Harris's hometown. She and her husband Doug Emhoff live here in the Los Angeles area. So, this crowd celebrating a California now achieving that office, the first woman vice president-elect, also the first woman of color to achieve that office as well.
[16:30:00]
One other note we're hearing, Anderson, from this crowd, is that it is not just a Biden/Harris victory they are celebrating. They are also celebrating, in their words, the exit of Donald Trump.
A recurring chant here has been "Donald Trump out."
What we're hearing from this crowd is -- here in Los Angeles obviously a city that is very diverse, very rich, diverse community here -- and they think that Donald Trump is simply demonized so many people of color throughout his presidency.
One person here saying it started with the Birtherism for President Obama.
You think about when President Trump actually came down the golden escalator announcing his run for the presidency he sought, in their words, to "demonize" Mexicans calling them rapists and the like. Something that has really been felt.
One other thing we're hearing is not just what the president has said but also what he has failed to say. The crowd pointing out the president has still not forcibly condemned white supremacy.
They say during this last four years so many of these groups have been emboldened under the presidency of Donald Trump.
Now the crowd coming out to celebrate the Biden/Harris win but also what that win may mean for minorities here in the United States -- Anderson, Erin?
COOPER: Josh, it is Anderson.
The crowd that's there, was this various groups that kind of, you know, got on social media and said, hey, we'll meet up at such and such a location and march to such and such a location? Was it spontaneous? Nobody knew exactly when the call was going to be made.
CAMPBELL: Part of this was planned. One of the Black Lives Matter protests we've seen recurring essentially throughout this Los Angeles area for several months. This was planned today coming out and calling for racial justice.
After this was announced, this Biden/Harris win by CNN and other networks, you saw an infusion of Biden/Harris supporters coming out so a very diverse crowd.
You look at some of the signage. They are on the move now starting to march away but you see both the calls for Donald Trump's exit but also those that are celebrating a Biden/Harris win.
It is also worth noting this is just one of many areas around Los Angeles that are now seeing crowds gather.
We were just in the west Hollywood area a little earlier. You saw this parade of vehicles coming through, diverse group of people with Biden/Harris signs, again celebrating this victory.
This is not happening just here but obviously throughout Los Angeles, and across the country, people celebrating what so much of today means for those who were opponents of Donald Trump.
And that is not just an end to some of the policies they disagree with but very much in favor of what a Biden/Harris administration might mean for the coming at least four years -- Anderson?
COOPER: Josh Campbell, appreciate it. I want to go to Chicago, the city that was home to President Barack
Obama's campaign headquarters. Now celebrating the victory of his former running mate, the current President-Elect Joe Biden.
Let's go back to CNN's Omar Jimenez in Chicago.
Clearly, there's not a lot of social distancing going on which is unfortunate given the raging pandemic that we have, which now we're seeing record numbers of cases over the last several days, but it does look like a lot of people are at least wearing masks there.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Anderson. We start with people wearing masks. But you are 100 percent right we have seen record highs for coronavirus cases here in the state of Illinois and in Chicago heading in the wrong direction restriction wise.
But all of that has seemed to go out the window on a day like today where people have celebration on their minds.
You can see just behind me here this is a line of police officers guarding Michigan Avenue to keep people from getting into the street here.
But as people have come by, they have honked their horns in celebration.
As you turn to the left and you see so many supporters on the sides meeting those horns with signs of their own and cheers of their own. This has been going on for hours.
The significance of this location, as far as this crowd goes, with this street closed in particular, this is the significance of the location.
It is happening right outside the Trump Tower here in Chicago, which you really can't go anywhere in downtown without seeing that name because it is in a very prominent spot here.
So this was a logical place for many people to meet, supporters of course of Joe Biden, a President-Elect Biden, and vice President-Elect Kamala Harris now.
This is a place that soon or started I should say with tourists taking pictures. Then more people began to come, cars began honking.
People showed up with drums, music began. The road closed. Here we are in what has been a growing celebration here in Chicago.
As you mentioned, campaign headquarters for President Obama, where he was from, and of course a place that will likely carry his legacy. Now Biden's for at least four years to come.
[16:35:03]
COOPER: Omar Jimenez, from Chicago, associate it. Thanks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE-PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We did it. We did it, Joe. You're going to be the next president of the United States. We did it!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. That is soon-to-be former Senator Kamala Harris speaking to now President-Elect Joe Biden earlier today, congratulating him on their victory and celebrating the history that she, herself, is now making.
I want to get California Congresswoman Barbara Lee in to talk about this.
We've talked throughout this campaign. We are in all of this talking about the first woman, the first woman of color ever to be elected on a presidential ticket. Have you spoken to Senator Harris today or I'm sorry, vice President-Elect Harris today?
REP BARBARA LEE (D-CA); I have not spoken to her today. Of course, I sent her a text message.
But I am just first of all so excited, not only because she is a personal friend -- and I actually supported her when she ran for president -- but she is prepared.
And I am so excited for the country, because they're going to get a Biden presidency with a Vice President Kamala Harris as his team mate to really help this country move forward, first of all to unite the country but also to really bring some sanity to this government as it relates to the recession that is taking place.
And so I just have to say it is an historic day. I'm excited.
My aunt will be a hundred years old in another week. And she has been afraid. She's been terrified behind this administration. She's breathing a sigh of relief today, also.
So I'm excited personally but, more importantly, for the country with a vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.
BURNETT: Obviously, she is a friend of yours. I know you knew her mother as well.
Tell me how she would react today if she knew that her daughter had just succeeded at this, had this remarkable achievement?
LEE: I did not actually know her mother. But someone has talked to me about her mother in so many ways that one thing I want to mention, and that is that her mother was a scientist.
And Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris really understands science and that science matters.
Here we have this horrific pandemic upon us and she is going to be right in the mix in meeting with President-Elect Biden to really take on this virus with a vengeance.
She believes in science. She understands science.
Also, just personally I know how she connects with people, with regard to her mother.
Senator Harris mentioned to me, when my dear mother passed, how much she wanted to console me. I broke out crying.
Then she realized what had taken place and she hugged me and talked to me because she experienced this and still with her mother leaving and passing away.
So I share that because she connects with people, and that is just so important to have a vice president who really knows the challenges and the aspirations and the dreams of everyday people.
And it takes a Kamala Harris and a Joe Biden to really bring that kind of integrity and that kind of caring actually and that kind of love back into this country.
BURNETT: So you talk about the caring and leadership. It really is going to matter because, Congresswoman, Joe Biden may well pick up more states and it will be a resounding victory on a popular vote, an electoral vote it may be.
But nonetheless, if he has -- he has 74.5 million votes right now in this country. That is going to go up. But it is going to be in that - ish range.
Donald Trump has 70 million votes. This is a divided country. There are 70 million people who do not feel the people on this -- do not feel like the people on this screen right now.
What is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris going to do to have those people feel this indeed is the beginning of something good for them, too?
LEE: Sure. I think we've heard vice president, President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris talk about the fact that they're going to be a president and vice president of all of the country, of everyone. And I believe them.
And so it's not going to be easy. But I think when you start talking about the aspirations of people, when you stop dividing people, when you start trying to bring people together to look at our common issues, economic growth, job creation, people need jobs right now. They need their unemployment extended.
They need their health care taken care of. They need us to crush this virus.
So when people begin to see this is affecting them also, I think by their deeds shall you know them. And I think people will begin.
But it is not going to be easy because there are some who just are not going to accept the fact that we have a Democrat in the White House. I have to have hope we'll be able to work in Congress and hopefully in
the Senate to bring people together with a president and vice president who want to lead and bring the country together for everyone.
[16:40:13]
BURNETT: Congresswoman, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it.
LEE Thank you. Nice being with you.
BURNETT: All right. Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
We'll take a brief break as our special coverage continues here on CNN.
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[16:45:57]
COOPER: Voters in Pennsylvania pushed Joe Biden over the finish line, security the 270 electoral votes he needed to win.
Our Shimon Prokupecz is in Philadelphia, where the votes in the state had enough votes to make Vice President Biden President-Elect Biden.
So people there are celebrating the role they played in this historic moment. How is the crowd?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So the crowd has not changed much, Anderson, since last we talked. What is happening here is we have this line of Biden supporters who have been here and gathered here.
But across the street there are Trump supporters. They, too, have been here for several days.
The funny thing in all of this is that the music you're hearing is actually some of Trump's greatest hits from the campaign trail. The Biden supporters have actually been singing to it, clapping along, dancing to it.
It's been one big party out here, Anderson. There's been a lot of champagne. Almost feels like a Super Bowl party in some ways going on here.
People have been out here for hours now. In many ways just happy to be out and to be able to be together.
I want to bring somebody in, India, she has been here.
India, tell me what it was like being here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was pretty emotional when I first got in. I came off the subway and I got off and saw people chanting and rallying and it was emotional. I didn't expect that.
PROKUPECZ: The thought of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris, tell me what that means.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is very enlightening like a new light. Especially Kamala Harris. She went to Howard. I went to Howard. ASU. Go Bisons.
I think it is showing we can make a difference. There's still work to be done. I am looking forward to staying involved and I think we're in a good direction.
PROKUPECZ: What about the fact you have all of these people out here together?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it -- the last time I saw something like this in Philly was when they won the Super Bowl. It's really exciting. It shows people are excited and want better things to happen in the city. I think it's really good.
PROKUPECZ: Certainly, Anderson, that is the feel here.
This is a big sports town. They come out and they celebrate when their teams win. That's what it feels like here. Of course, the ramifications are much bigger.
But so many people here have been dancing, cheering. A lot of them very, very young. Certainly, have been struck by the age of some of the people here. Very young. And they're just out here.
And there was really -- when you look this way, Anderson, more people have been filing in. So I think they're going to stay out here as long as they can and continue this party here.
COOPER: It's also interesting, obviously, Philadelphia is the city that President Trump was pointing to as being a hot bed of fraud, though there's no indication of widespread voter fraud.
Which is why the president's supporters are out at the location that you are out at.
I'm wondering if that also kind of motivated this particular crowd to, or some of the people in this crowd to kind of come out because the president had singled out Philadelphia, clearly offended a lot of people in that city.
PROKUPECZ: It did. There's that quote that I believe Donald Trump, comes from Donald Trump, bad things happen in Philadelphia. People have been holding signs to that. It means a lot for them to be the clinching city in so many withdraws.
I will say to you as you can see so many people behind me here celebrating.
But, yes, it certainly is a good point that a lot of the reason some of them came here was because we're seeing so many Trump supporters here -- Anderson?
COOPER: All right. Shimon Prokupecz, appreciate it.
Erin?
BURNETT: Interesting.
I think, Anderson, just to see them both there, the two groups, and so far, you know, maybe jeering a bit at each other but dancing to each other's music and, goodness. If that is just the way this could go from here wouldn't it be great.
President Trump, of course, though, has refused to concede. Instead issuing a statement saying, quote, "Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated."
Joining me now former Nixon White House counsel and CNN contributor, John Dean, along with our contributor, Ben Ginsberg, a long-time election lawyer, who was national council to the Bush/Cheney presidential campaign, playing a central role in the 2000 Florida recount.
Thanks very much to both of you.
Ben, let me start with you.
You hear the president, right? They're going to prosecute the case in court and do everything they can.
I want to emphasize and this is really significant in an unprecedented election where people voted by mail in ways they never had before and early in ways they never have before there have been no incidents of widespread fraud anywhere in this country. That is something to celebrate.
Nonetheless, the president is going to try to take this to court. Do you think, ben, there's any court case that could turn around this for him now?
[16:50:07]
BEN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER: It's not evident so far. It's also interesting in that statement he used the word prosecute. He is not a prosecutor. He is not prosecuting these cases. He is a plaintiff asking for relief.
And so far the evidence that he has shown despite having 50,000 poll watcher Army in the polls, has no evidence of the systemic fraud or irregularities to cast any of the results in any of the states into doubt.
I mean, another thing we've seen, just for example in Pennsylvania, right, where every vote is going to be counted and they're still counting some of these ballots that had issues with them.
People put on the wrong date or creased them the wrong way, a number of possible issues, and they have literally three people looking at every single ballot.
Five feet away you were able to five feet away you were able to have observers look at it.
I think it is important for people to understand this. It is a far from perfect system but these things are indeed happening. There are many eyes on every single count here.
BURNETT: Yes. There are many eyes including eyes in the sky in the form of cameras.
And in my experience in recounts, if you don't have the evidence developed in real time on election day, then it sort of becomes cotton candy and you take a bite and it vaporizes down to nothing.
So they're in sort of a Hail Mary position now.
So, John, what happens then here? Who is going to be the person? Is there a person who will it be? To tell President Trump that it is time to concede?
JOHN DEAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, we had reports yesterday that Jared Kushner was looking for his James Baker. His James Baker is on this set with us today. That's who, a step forward.
But thankfully ben is not a gun for hire on an issue like this. I don't know what he'll do on litigation wise and I don't know who is in that White House that has the gumption to tell him it's over.
Maybe his son-in-law. Maybe his daughter. I doubt if it is any of the staff. Mark Meadows is now out.
It is a good question and not one I can answer.
BURNETT: So, John, one thing we've been watching is what Republican leaders have done. We have certainly seen some pretty clear condemnation of the way the president is handling things.
But plenty of soft peddling cloaking things and certain rhetoric to make it sort of maybe we're criticizing him maybe we're not right?
Is there going to be a moment where you have Republican leadership, mitch McConnell, others, right, senior Republicans go sit down with this president and say, we are going to force this issue?
DEAN: It could very well happen. It certainly hasn't happened to date. They have been very supine with this president letting him do pretty much what he wants to do. As Ben mentioned, he used the word prosecute in his tweet about the
election laws. I think prosecution is on his mind.
And one of the things I suspect he is considering right now is drafting a pardon for himself or having his attorney general, Bill Barr, maybe make a general amnesty for everyone who worked in his administration.
One of the tough decisions Biden has to make is what are they going to do with the criminality that has been rampant in this administration?
BURNETT: So, Ben, what happens next here for the team Trump, right? We have, you know, a president, the Electoral College is going to verify the results of this as the states finally certify them over the next few days and weeks.
Mid December, the Electoral College is going to meet, right, and you're going to have a new president. And a transition theoretically.
So what is next for team Trump?
GINSBERG: Well, what is next for team Trump is that they will fail and make Donald Trump a loser if they bring the lawsuits.
What they are within their rights to do is to move forward on the recounts. Under the laws of the states where they're within the margin. It looks like there will be two or three states where that's true.
But I think what will happen is that there won't be enough votes changed -- the outcome is going to stay the same. The margins are within the statutory, permissible amounts but they're too big to actually change in a recount.
So, ultimately, those efforts will fail and it's that point that John's scenario of Republican leaders going to him becomes real.
And the day to remember is December 8th, which is the safe harbor date under the -- for the Electoral College.
[16:55:06]
BURNETT: All right. That is, of course, the date on everyone's mind here as we watch for the president's reaction over the next days.
Thank you both very much.
We'll take a very quick break. We will be right back.
I want to remind everybody, of course, we are counting down. You see it on the screen. But it is worth reminding that President-Elect Biden will be speaking to the nation at 8:00 tonight.
We will be right back.
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