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CNN Live Event/Special

In-Person Turnout to Determine Georgia Election Today; Election Is Proceeding Smoothly; President Trump and Pence Had Lunch Today. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 05, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:01:03]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And welcome to our special coverage of Election Day in America, continued. I'm Erin Burnett along with Anderson Cooper.

And right now, voters are heading to the polls, casting their ballots in two races. And these races are crucial, they are going to determine the balance of power in Washington. Republican Senators David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler are battling Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Reverend Raphael Warnock.

And right now, this is a turnout game. President-elect Joe Biden, tweeting a short time ago, "Go vote, Georgia!" Because, you know, there's been a lot of early voting, Anderson, but obviously this is the last day and the only in-person chance left.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yes, there's been a lot of big turnout early, we'll see about today. Meanwhile, Georgia's top election official is now fact-checking President Trump in real time. Last hour, the president tweeting about reports of Dominion voting machines not working in Republican strongholds.

TEXT: Donald J. Trump: Reports are coming out of the 12th Congressional District of Georgia that Dominion Machines are not working in certain Republican Strongholds for over an hour. Ballots are being left in lock boxes, hopefully they count them. Thank you Congressman @RickAllen!

COOPER: The state's top election official, Gabe Sterling, responding, "The issue was resolved hours ago... sorry you received old intel, Mr. President."

TEXT: Gabriel Sterling: And this issue in Columbia Co. was resolved hours ago and our office informed the public about it in real time. The votes of everyone will be protected and counted. Sorry you received old intel Mr. President.

COOPER: And this vote comes as Republicans are about to test the fundamentals of America's democracy. A growing number of Republicans in the House and Senate say they plan to challenge Joe Biden's win tomorrow when Congress meets to tally the electoral votes. This last-ditch effort -- which will ultimately fail -- comes as Trump

is turning up the heat on his vice president to overturn the election tomorrow.

BURNETT: Which is interesting. Yes, that great interview you just did with the expert there, saying, I mean, we would be in unprecedented territory if Pence tried to do something completely outside the rule of law here.

We are covering it all, so let's go to those crucial elections in Georgia. Ryan Nobles begins our coverage this hour, he is in Atlanta at the GOP headquarters there.

So, Ryan, given this record early turnout that Anderson just referenced and what we're seeing today, which is no lines anywhere that we've heard of, what is the mood at the GOP headquarters?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, from the very beginning, Republicans had the sense that these races were theirs to lose, that even though Democrats have made big gains over the past several years -- including almost winning the gubernatorial race in 2018, and then of course Joe Biden winning in November, that this was still a red-leaning state. And then especially in a runoff, where turnout is not traditionally as great, that the Republicans just needed to get their vote out.

Well, today, they're going to find out whether or not that theory is going to be a reality, because there's no doubt that the Democrats did much better during the early voting phase of this election, not just in terms of more Democratic-registered voters coming out, but also when you compare it to their pace in the November election.

Still, Republicans believe that today is their day, they view Republican voters as being much more traditional, they prefer to vote in-person and on Election Day. And you're right, Erin, there may not be very long lines in some of the more densely populated counties. What Republicans are hoping for is just a steady stream of voters in more of those rural counties, the counties where President Trump won big in November and where David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler expect the base of their votership to be.

So the one thing we know for sure is that both Republicans and Democrats agree that the results tonight are going to be very close, but they ultimately feel confident that they're going to be the ones that come out on top -- Erin.

BURNETT: And obviously, turnout is everything. Do you get any sense from GOP headquarters what they are seeing in those all-important rural counties in Georgia?

NOBLES: Yes, they feel pretty good right now, that the pace has been brisk. You know, that's the sense that we're getting. But you know, they're not necessarily making any predictions right now.

You know, the Republicans believe that there's, you know, a total voter turnout somewhere in the range of 800,000 to a million voters that need to turn out tonight. And if they see those numbers and they feel confident that they're the ones that are going to come out on top.

If those numbers track below that number, that's where they're going to start to get nervous because of how well the Democrats did during the early voting phase. So they've got a very robust plan in place.

Keep in mind that the Republican National Committee is on the ground here, investing tens of millions of dollars in a turnout operation that was very similar to the one that President Trump employed during the general election. It's a very targeted effort; they use, you know, voter data to try and push out that vote.

[14:05:11]

BURNETT: Yes.

NOBLES: And they also believe that something as simple as the president's rally last night, where they can target voters who went to that rally last night but haven't necessarily cast their ballot and reach out to them, that's going to be part of their formula for winning here today.

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Ryan.

So let's go to Kyung Lah, she's also in Atlanta. And, Kyung, what about on the Democratic side? So you just heard -- it was interesting -- Ryan give the numbers, that they didn't need -- you know, they didn't need to feel that there were lines, they needed brisk turnout, 800,000 to a million voters and that they seem to be feeling OK about that right now. What about on the Democratic side, where you had such unprecedented early turnout?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You would think that because of that early turnout vote, that they'd feel very confident going into today, but talking to campaign sources, they're being extremely cautious.

That is what I am hearing from campaign sources, is that they are fully expecting exactly what Ryan said today, that they anticipate Republicans will vote in person, and that the Republicans who do vote today, they are the ones who are the most reliable, they are the ones who do not skip elections and they are the ones who will show up. And so that is the anticipation, and that's why they are also looking at those same numbers, who turns out and in what districts.

And we're also seeing Democrats making sure to get out and talk to any Democrats who may not have already gone to the polls, that's why you saw Revered Warnock as well as Jon Ossoff heading out in that final get-out-the-vote push, slamming Trump and reminding voters that it is game day.

BURNETT: So, Kyung, where will they be tonight? I mean, obviously, you know, we don't know when we'll know. But you know, if you know at some point tonight, where are they awaiting the results, Reverend Warnock and Mr. Ossoff? LAH: Well, you mentioned that Ryan was at GOP headquarters, there is

no Democratic headquarters. I'm actually standing at a backdrop of Atlanta, at a higher lookout point. And the reason why I'm here is because Democrats are not gathering. They're not going to gather inside because of COVID, they are not anticipating -- also, Erin -- to have any kind of result tonight. They anticipate it's going to take a while to count these votes.

BURNETT: Wow. All right, Kyung, thank you very much -- Anderson.

COOPER: Erin, I want to go to Harry Enten, senior writer and analyst for CNN Politics and Astead Herndon, "New York Times" national political reporter, he's been in Georgia covering this race.

Harry, the candidates are out in the final moments, making their case obviously. What are you watching tonight?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: Well, I think I'm watching a few things. Number one, I'm watching the black turnout, right? We saw that the black turnout in the early vote was making up a larger share of the electorate than it did at the equivalent point in the general election. Does that hold true when we have the actual Election Day returns?

Another thing I'm watching, I'm watching whether or not, up in that 14th District in the northwest part of the state, that has been lagging significantly. That's the very, very Republican, rural district. Will we see turnout actually come out on Election Night?

And then the third thing I'm watching is the Georgia 6th Congressional District. That was a district that formerly was very Republican, has trended much more Democratic in recent years. Biden won it by 11, but the Democrats on the Senate side only won it by five and six. Can the Democratic candidates get those anti-Trump Republicans to become Democrats in this runoff election.

COOPER: Astead, the Democrats have been hammering home the impact this election could have on stimulus checks, the bank accounts of people in Georgia. I just want to play some of that for our viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: We will be able to pass $2,000 stimulus checks for the people next week when we win these races in Georgia, and get economic relief directly into the bank accounts of the American people who are suffering right now.

RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Working families need somebody in Washington, D.C. who will be thinking about them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: How is it playing in Georgia?

ASTEAD HERNDON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yes, this is something that we saw certainly over the last month become an increasing part of the Democratic message. It was something that felt tangible, and you heard Democratic operatives say that that's something that they thought voters could latch onto, the kind of explicit message that $2,000 checks are on their way if you vote for Democrats, period.

Now, that was all obviously complicated by President Trump, who also endorsed that idea. You saw Loeffler and Perdue try to back it after the president does, but they still have that history and record of being slower to get to that issue. And plus, the Republican turnout game here is really not about policy in itself, it is about kind of stopping the rising tide of Democrats, it's about the kind of negative ads that they've seen about the opponents. Democrats have been motivated by that positive (ph) policy (ph), (inaudible) message.

COOPER: Harry, are voters on the ground, Republican voters, what is the impact on them of President Trump essentially, you know, lying about widespread election fraud? Is that motivating them to go to the polls, is it not motivating them? Do we know?

[14:10:13]

ENTEN: So far in the early vote it hasn't, right? I mean, I mentioned the 4th District; the 9th District, that's another very Republican- leaning territory. What we saw in that early vote was that Republicans were less likely to turn out relative to their levels of turning out in the early vote in November.

But more than that, I don't just think it's about the turnout operation, it's also about persuasion, right? I mentioned that 6th Congressional District. What happens now with those voters who decided in November, I'm going to vote for Joe Biden but I'm also going to vote for David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler?

Do those voters now decide, you know what, I want to send President Trump a message, I want to go over to the Democratic side? If they do, that could be enough to switch this election regardless of the turnout.

COOPER: And we had a connection problem with Astead, we're trying to get that back. But, Harry, more than 3 million votes have been cast, early voting, absentee ballots in the race so far, breaking the state's record for a runoff election; more than 30 percent of those ballots come from black voters -- as you mentioned. That's higher than what we saw in the November elections.

Turnout today, I mean, in a number of places that we've gone to just this morning, which is, you know, not a scientific sampling, they had lines in the morning when polls first opened, but a lot of places do not have lines right now, people are going in, they're voting within a minute and coming out.

ENTEN: Yes. I mean, look, the turnout today relative to the early vote, today's vote is going to make up significantly less proportion than the early vote did.

But here's the thing, Democrats do not need to win today, right? They lost the Election Day vote in November, both in the presidential and the Senate races. The question is what percentage of that vote today does it make up of the entire pie. You saw -- you heard those numbers earlier, if we get somewhere near, say, 4 million total, so that would be, you know, 800-plus-thousand today, then Republicans might feel pretty confident.

But here's the thing I'll point out, Anderson, I just think it's so important. If we go back in history, go back in time, Republicans have improved upon their general election to the runoff situation seven out of eight times since 1992 in Georgia history. Do we see a continuation of that history today? If we in fact do not see it, boy, Georgia's a much different state than we thought it was even just a few months ago.

COOPER: So -- my mind is foggy because I haven't had enough coffee today. Could you just repeat that? That's kind of a key metric to look for, that Republicans have done better in runoff elections than in the general?

ENTEN: That's correct. So if you go back statewide since 1992, seven out of eight times, Republicans have improved upon their November performance, their general election performance in the runoffs. If that history holds, then obviously Republicans are going to win today because the results were so close in November. In fact, the Republicans ran a little bit ahead in the Senate races.

But Georgia's a very different state, because those suburbs, those well-educated white voters in that 6th Congressional District that went 20-plus percentage points for Mitt Romney back in 2012, went for 11 points for Joe Biden this time around. The Senate (ph) Democrats won it by just five or six points. If they can improve that margin up to double digits tonight, then I think you're probably looking at two Democratic senators from the state of Georgia.

COOPER: Wow. Harry Enten, appreciate it, thanks very much.

And out thanks to Astead Herndon, who we lost his connection.

We'll go live to John King next, he's standing by at the Magic Wall. What he'll be looking for when the results start to come in.

Plus President Trump's stepping up the pressure on Mike Pence to overturn the election, but a senior Trump adviser, just now, admitting that effort is likely to fail because Pence can really only do so much, he has a very limited ceremonial role.

[14:13:36]

And a crisis in California that we are watching, cases of coronavirus exploding, hospitals overwhelmed, ambulance crews told not to transport patients with little chance of survival. And the situation, getting worse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: OK, we are less than five hours away from polls closing in Georgia, and hopefully soon thereafter we'll find out who's actually going to control the Senate, officials across the state telling CNN that things so far are going well, no issues, no bumps.

These Georgia voters, of course, are the ones who are going to decide not just the party that controls the Senate -- which is crucial -- but obviously, given that you now have President-elect Joe Biden, that's going to determine how much of his agenda actually happens. So everything rests upon these voters in Georgia today.

So let's go to John King at the Magic Wall. All right, so, John, obviously, it's only been a few weeks since Georgia voters went to the polls, you know, in the seismically disruptive outcome, right? That they gave, right? Georgia turning blue in the presidential election in November. So what do you take away from that?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is the biggest lesson, Erin. If you look at Georgia's recent history the last couple of decades, especially if you look at the history of runoff elections in Georgia statewide, you would have to say that the Republican Kelly Loeffler, is favored; you would have to say that the Republican David Perdue is favored. That's what history tells you.

But what 2020 told us is that Georgia is changing, and that Democrats can win. Now, they need to be near-perfect to do so. Joe Biden winning by just 11,779 votes, running it up in Atlanta in the suburbs, running it up in Augusta, running it up down here in Chatham County, Democrats need to be near-perfect.

But they can win, Erin, they can change Georgia's history. I was about to say defy Georgia's history. Georgia's recent history is Republicans win statewide, that has been the case for some time but it is changing.

If you register more African-Americans, if you register more young voters, and if you continue to have the suburban revolt against President Trump, this state, which is a purple state -- used to be a red state, now you call it purple, lean it red -- it is possible, Joe Biden proved it. Not since Bill Clinton in 1992 with Ross Perot in the race had a Democrat won for presidency, so Georgia is in play. Again, Democrats need to be near-perfect, that's the challenge today, but they can win.

[14:20:06]

BURNETT: So, OK, so the numbers that we have, you know, Ryan Nobles, who's, you know, been talk1ing to GOP sources in Georgia, says that they think they need 800 to a thousand to a million people to turn out today to actually pull off a win.

But the early voting numbers, which obviously we know in the presidential election skewed incredibly Democratic, you already had 3.1 million people vote. So what do we know about them?

KING: And that is exactly why Ryan Nobles is correct. Republicans need to see turnout today, that is why President Trump was up here last night in Dalton, Georgia, Whitfield County, trying to get the Trump base to come out.

Tradition is everybody's turnout drops in a runoff, but that early voting you're talking about -- let me come back to the elections, where we are now -- the early voting we're talking about does show that people are still engaged. Not at the presidential level, but way beyond previous runoff elections. More than 3 million people have voted.

If you want to break it down a little bit further than that, of those 3 million, more than 2 million voting in person, 966,000 and change voting absentee by mail.

Democrats believe when they look at who requested those ballots, when they look at African-Americans participating in early voting, they believe they have done their job in the early voting, which is why Ryan's reporting is dead-on, Republicans think they need to -- as they did back in November -- have a big, giant turnout on Election Day, day-of voting, to offset the Democratic advantage here.

BURNETT: Right, right. But I think it's so important how you break that down, right? The kind of absentee voting versus voting early in- person. That voting early in-person has a lot more question marks around it than --

KING: Sure does.

BURNETT: -- absentee, to your point.

So, John, just put this into context, right? The significance of the moment we are in, with so much at stake on this day, and also the president's role in it?

KING: Well, number one, the president's role in it. let me stay here for a minute, the president's role in it is can he turn out those voters where he was last night?

I'll come back to a few weeks ago, and you look at it, he's been criticizing the governor, criticizing the secretary of state, questioning the integrity of the Georgia election process. Does that hurt Republican turnout or do you take the contrarian view the president's just ginning up a fight, it gets his people interested and they show up to vote even though they might be mad at everybody, that's one theory.

And then, all right, I'm going to walk over here, just for the consequence of the moment here. The November election is not over it, Joe Biden does not know -- he knows he has the narrow majority in the House. Will it be Mitch McConnell controlling the floor of the Senate or will it be Chuck Schumer controlling the floor of the Senate? Whoever is the Senate majority leader will have a very narrow margin.

But this is why these races make the difference. Right now, Republicans have 50 senators. Democrats, when you count the two independents who caucus with the Democrats, have 48. So it all comes down to tonight, and the count here. If Jon Ossoff, the Democrat, can win, that would get the Democrats to

49. If Raphael Warnock, the Democrat, could win, that would get the Democrats to 50. Then Vice President Harris would break the ties.

Doesn't mean things are easy for Joe Biden in the Senate, but it means Chuck Schumer controls the floor, it means Democrats are chairmen of the committees and Joe Biden gets quick hearings on all his nominees, gets hearings on his legislative agenda.

BURNETT: Yes.

KING: If Republicans win one of these seats, they have 51; if they win them both, they have 52, and that changes everything.

BURNETT: All right. And of course, the story one can only imagine, if this is split, will truly be stunning because obviously, you know, a lot of people perceive it's a package deal one way or the other. But wow, you never know. All right, thank you so much, John King.

So what fringe lawyers -- and I emphasize the adjective "fringe" -- are telling President Trump about Pence's role tomorrow, right? Pence has a role, it's open the envelopes and read the winner. It's not decide what's in the envelope, but the president's trying to change that.

[14:23:33]

Plus, a human disaster, that is how officials are describing the coronavirus outbreak that we are seeing in the United States in Southern California right now, where someone is dying every 15 minutes from COVID.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We have breaking news, a senior Trump adviser, conceding that the president's last-ditch effort to overturn the election results in Congress tomorrow is likely to fail. The adviser, acknowledging that Vice President Pence cannot do very much constitutionally to change the outcome, despite President Trump's pressuring him to do just that.

Kaitlan Collins is live in Washington near the White House. So what more are you learning, Kaitlan?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it's not just that it's likely to fail, it's all but guaranteed to fail. And people inside the White House recognize that except the president himself, who has been listening to a lot of outside voices lately, and of course that has led to this tension.

That is remarkable, that we're seeing break out in public view, between the president and his vice president, who we should note just had lunch a short time ago, though it was not listed on the president's public schedule.

And of course that came shortly after the president tweeted that Pence has this authority tomorrow that he does not have, that Pence has walked through with the president, he met with the Senate parliamentarians to see exactly what his role is going to be. He's now gone through it with people at the White House several times to say this is just procedural, it's not any kind of effect where I can actually change anything.

Yet the president has continued to insist -- wrongly -- that the vice president is going to play a bigger role tomorrow than what he really is.

COOPER: He's clearly getting advice on this from some -- is it his usual group of fringe lawyers now, Rudy Giuliani and others?

COLLINS: Yes, that's actually who the president has only been relying on mostly for advice ever since the election. He has stopped listening to his inner circle of advisers in the White House for many reasons, but he has started listening to people who are basically telling the president what he wants to hear.

And that has been kind of a subject of his presidency for the last four years, where the president often listens to the last person who has his ear and makes the best argument, he thinks, without telling him what it is exactly that he should do.

But now, he is listening to people who are telling him that the election was rigged, that he did win it, that there was widespread fraud when of course all of the evidence shows that none of those things are true.

[14:30:07]