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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Says He's Going to Protect Women Whether They "Like It or Not"; Harris and Trump Campaign in Southwest with 5 Days to Go; Vance Suggests Upper- and Middle-Class Kids 'Become Trans' For College Admission. Inside The Effort To Undermine The Election If Trump Loses; Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY), Is Interviewed About Trump Saying He Has A "Secret" That Will Help Republicans "Do Really Well With The House"; 5 Days Out: Inside Battleground Michigan. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired October 31, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: ... rural voters to take down Trump's margins in his strongholds, very different from what we saw in 2020. Obviously, Biden won in 2020, Harris hoping to do the same this time around.
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We'll see how it plays out.
Phil, appreciate it, thank you.
And thanks to all of you for joining us tonight. I'm Erica Hill in for Erin Burnett.
Hope you're having a Happy Halloween. Stay tuned, AC360 starts right now.
[20:00:25]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, Donald Trump, the only candidate found liable by a jury of sexually abusing a woman once again claims he will be woman's protector and adds whether they like it or not.
Also tonight, new CNN battleground polling, John King breaks it down. We're joined by senior Harris campaign adviser, David Plouffe.
And, Donie O'Sullivan reports on the step-by-step plans that influential Trump supporters are making to overturn the election if Trump loses again.
Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
For a second straight day, the two presidential campaigns are sharing geography. The vice president tonight about to speak in Reno, Nevada. And after that in Las Vegas, where Jennifer Lopez will be joining her onstage.
Lopez, just one of many well-known artists of Puerto Rican heritage who are rallying behind Harris now, especially after one of the speakers at Trump's rally in New York on Sunday called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Her Reno event is expected to begin shortly.
The former president is in Henderson, Nevada and has an event with Tucker Carlson later tonight in Glendale, Arizona. He was also in New Mexico today where he falsely suggested that he won the state twice. In fact, he lost by eight points in 2016 and double-digit in 2020.
But we're starting off with what he said last night in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which became the latest of several campaign soundbites, not always from the candidates themselves that have put one side or the other on the defensive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: About four weeks ago, I would say no, I want to protect the people, I want to protect the women of our country. I want to protect the women, sir, please don't say that. Why? They said, we think it's very inappropriate for you to say so. Why? I'm president, I want to protect the women of our country. Well, I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Now, the reason he's claiming his advisers told him, please don't say that, it doesn't sound great. It's very inappropriate for you to say that is because of what he said not long ago at another rally speaking to the women of America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You will be protected and I will be your protector, women --
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
You will no longer be thinking about abortion, that's all they talk about abortion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's all they talk about, those women, abortion.
Somehow, he's going to make it, so you no longer even think about abortion. So, here's what the vice president said about Trump's new remarks today in Phoenix, the ones about him being women's protector whether the women like it or not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He simply does not respect the freedom of women or the intelligence of women to know what's in their own best interests and make decisions accordingly. But we trust women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It's no surprise why Trump advisers might suggest he not go down this road. First of all, as I mentioned the jury this year, found Trump liable for sexually abusing a woman. He also is on tape, boasting about how he could sexually assault women because he's a star and then there's the denigration of any woman who opposes him or confronts him, or just asked him a hard question that he doesn't like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She was by far the nastiest to Joe Biden. There was nobody nastier than her.
She was extraordinarily nasty to Kavanaugh. She was nasty to a level that was just a horrible thing. She was probably nastier than even Pocahontas.
By the racist attorney general of New York State Letitia "Peekaboo" James.
In the wings, they've got a local racist Democrat district attorney in Atlanta.
How about low IQ Maxine Waters.
Omarosa is obviously the ultimate villain and the nastiest.
I think it's a very nasty question when you ask and continue in a very hostile, nasty tone.
What a stupid question but I watched you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So a lot to cover tonight, starting with CNN's Priscilla Alvarez in North Las Vegas, where Vice President Harris we'll be hearing later. So, how much do you expect to hear tonight from the vice president about Trump's comments?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, these comments played directly into the vice president's core message about freedoms and more specifically, reproductive freedoms. Polls have indicated that she has an edge on the former president when it comes to women. And so, that is what she's been playing into over the course of today.
She started responding to this in the morning and we have seen that already at her rally in Phoenix, we expect it again in Reno and then again in Las Vegas. And the reason for that, Anderson, is because this is an issue that her campaign officials believe, reproductive freedoms, in particular is one that will galvanize voters to the polls.
[20:05:10] They saw it in 2022 and they expect to see it again, particularly
again with women. So when in the former president makes remarks like this, they are happy to seize on it and recently, we've seen the campaign deploy a strategy of rapidly responding to the former president especially when he makes comments like this.
So, certainly here in Las Vegas, we are anticipating that the vice president is going to mention it again, and continue to do so over the next several days. Because a moment like this, they're focused on mobilization and if they can use comments like this to mobilize voters, they're certainly going to do it -- Anderson.
COOPER: The vice president has seen kind of a rallying of very well- known artists of Puerto Rican descent, Jennifer Lopez, as I said, is going to be at this event, correct, later in Las Vegas.
ALVAREZ: That's right and this was a bit of an unexpected boost. I've been talking to sources in the campaign about this because what we saw over the last several days was Latino artists coming out in full force to support the vice president after those comments made at former president Donald Trump's rally in New York City from a comedian assailing Puerto Rico and that has given momentum, especially in the Puerto Rican community.
So, the vice president and her team have been trying to build on that through ads, but also to try to appeal to Latino voters. They are crucial, of course, in a state like Nevada and also in Arizona.
But in Nevada, the vice president is pretty evenly split with former President Donald Trump in the polls among Latinos. She is trying to gain an edge here, especially a day before early in-person voting ends, that ends tomorrow. Mail-in ballots will continue and then in- person voting will commence again on Tuesday. But the timing here is no coincidence.
Jennifer Lopez in particular has been very outspoken since the former president's rally. So we may hear more from her today on that but certainly this stop here as much as she has been trying to appeal to women by criticizing the former president's comments. She is certainly also trying to make a play here for Latino voters, knowing that the polls still show them pretty split.
COOPER: Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much.
Joining us, our political analysts, commentators, and campaign vets from across the partisan spectrum -- Van Jones, Gretchen Carlson David Axelrod, and Erin Perrine.
Gretchen, I mean, how -- I mean, this phrased that Donald Trump used "whether they like it or not," how do you think this is landing?
GRETCHEN CARLSON, JOURNALIST: We'll, thank you for coming to me first as a woman who fights for equal rights for women and to stop silencing women and have done so for the last eight to nine years, this is highly offensive. I think what's so ominous about the way in which he said this, that's
different from when he said it a month ago is that this time he said whether they like it or not. And let's be clear, there's a long history of Trump being accused of doing things to women that they probably didn't like. So, case in point, he took away Roe v. Wade. The majority of women in this country not want that to happen.
Number two, more than a dozen women have accused him of sexually assaulting them in some way. I'm sure they did not want that to happen. Number three, he said that because he was a powerful man, he could grab women by the pussy, excuse my French, and that they probably wouldn't care.
And number four, he was convicted of sexual assault of E. Jean Carroll. And is going to owe her millions of dollars. So, I don't want to just say this because its Halloween tonight, but this is "The Handmaids Tale" and women on Tuesday, may be looking down the barrel of a real life "Handmaid's Tale."
COOPER: I mean, the whole common about -- I didn't think of "Handmaid's Tale." You know, his kind of like women will be happy. They will be healthy, they will be free, they will no longer have to think about abortion. That's all they talk about right now.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He read that off a prompter too, who writes that? I mean, much less what he says, but it reflects I think in attitude, it's interesting because he's saying this just at a time when the Harris campaign began a very impactful ad on abortion rights and reproductive rights with video of him you will you remember back to the first campaign when he said, women should be punished who have abortions and Chris Matthews who was doing that interview, asked him again.
So you think women should be punished? Women who have -- and he said, yes, they should be punished. So, that is -- aside from the sort of the juxtaposition of how he behaves and what he says, there is this patronizing tone to it, and that back then was like shocking, but it seemed impossible.
But now what we've seen in the country, it suggests that he's followed through on his belief about that.
COOPER: Erin, I mean, it's also just interesting that Trump would just flat out say, yes, his advisers warned him against making those comments. But I guess he thinks this is a sign of his brilliance or strength, or I don't know what that he goes ahead and makes them again.
[20:10:02]
ERIN PERRINE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF PRESS COMMUNICATIONS, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: I'm not quite sure with the strategy is behind it, and I think the strategy in the closing days should be talking to voters about what matters to them. I feel like I've been saying this for months. Apparently, I'm just on repeat. You need to be talking about the economy. You need to be talking about
immigration. But also, let's remember here that while we're talking about Donald Trump's comments, there are still comments coming from the other campaign denigrating women.
I heard Mark Cuban today say while he was sitting on a private jet that Donald Trump doesn't have any smart, intelligent women around him ever. I think Susie Wiles, Donald Trump's campaign manager, might vehemently disagree with that notion. I think Lara Trump as the RNC co-chair, might disagree with that notion. And I think Linda McMahon, the head over at America First, which is the policy portion of what Trump's team is trying to do might disagree with that notion.
In the closing days, both campaigns are going to be taking these clips and moving them aggressively to try and drive out more voters. That's what everybody is going to do.
And if you heard Donald Trump today and you're a Republican and you're a woman, you said, yes, he's going to be my fighter. That's what I signed up for. And if you're a Democrat or you are a woman that's leaning against him, you're going to say the same thing, that's the guy I completely expected to see there.
And now it's about getting the message out to voters to get them to the polls.
COOPER: I mean -- to the point -- though -- and of course -- Erin, obviously, Mark Cuban riding on a plane. He is not Donald Trump. This is the candidate who wants to be president, Mark Cuban, I guess is a surrogate or is a supporter of Harris' who is out there just speaking. I hear what you're saying, but this is not quite the same.
PERRINE: And Joe Biden is the sitting president of the United States -- yes, well Joe Biden tried to say that all Trump supporters are garbage.
COOPER: Which, he immediately tried to cleanup what he said.
PERRINE: It doesn't change what he said.
COOPER: Voters can make that decision, but this candidate has never tried to clean up what he said. He has now just repeated it again. That's the problem.
PERRINE: I think that doubling down is a misstep by the campaign. It's not a problem for a candidate ever to acknowledge fault and to admit change for any candidate in any situation.
COOPER: Van, LeBron James, I think has now endorsed Kamala Harris, is that a big --
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's a big deal -- I do just want to say the risk of being controversial, I do think that women need to be protected from people like Donald Trump. I mean Donald Trump is exactly the kind of person that women try to protect themselves from. Someone who has no respect to, has no regard, who won't listen. And so
-- I think that Mark Cuban should not have said that, but he may have been thinking about Laura Loomer when he was thinking about the women that were just discussed.
But LeBron James coming out is a big deal because the ad he posted is so powerful. I mean, he posted an ad that if you -- if you're an African-American person and you were thinking about thinking about voting for Donald Trump, you would probably keep your mouth shut at the dinner table because the ad he posted goes after every single thing that's come out of Donald Trump's mouth, that would offend any self-respecting Black man or a woman and I think it's a very big deal.
And there's a lot of attention on him right now because his son played with him so, Lebron James always dominant is even more dominant in the public mind.
COOPER: Is that an ad put out by the Harris campaign?
JONES: I don't know where it came from, I've never seen it any place except on his thing and he wrote, what are we even talking about here? I am proud to endorse Kamala Harris.
COOPER: Do you think -- is it too late? And do you think, you know, I guess if it's aimed at Black men, will people actually pay attention to this?
JONES: I think because the Black men that were most worried about are probably not early voters. And so, I do think that there are a number of younger African-American men who have not gone to vote.
And so, you're going to see a big, just like you're seeing a big push in the Latin community. You're going to see a big push in the Black community to get -- the folks here are very, very passionate about Trump, they've already voted. If they are very passionate about Kamala, they've probably already voted.
The people who might vote for Trump have not voted and this is a -- I encourage everybody to look at LeBron's ad and other people, you should be doing ads like LeBron James.
COOPER: David, I want to play something that JD Vance said on Joe Rogan's podcast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JD VANCE (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I wouldn't be surprised if me and Trump won just the normal gay guy vote because again, they just wanted to be left the hell alone and now you have all this crazy stuff on top of it.
If you are a middle-class or upper middle-class White parent and the only thing that you care about is whether your child goes into Harvard or Yale. Like, obviously, that pathway has become a lot harder for a lot of upper middle-class kids.
But the one way that those people can participate in the DEI bureaucracy in this country is to be trans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So, the idea that people are having surgery in order to get into these colleges --
JONES: Listen --
COOPER: I mean, I know parents will go really far to get their kid into a good school. And JD Vance, by the way, knows something about using something to get your way in.
[20:15:10]
AXELROD: Yes, he got some preferences because of his background and his story, you know --
COOPER: But also, I also would love that, I guess gay people are now accepted by --
AXELROD: This is progress, Anderson. This is progress.
COOPER: This one to me was -- at first I was like, oh, JD Vance thinks there's normal gay people so I guess that's sort of progress.
AXELROD: So this is progress.
COOPER: But I'm curious to know what the different -- how -- where the line is between a normal gay person and a not normal gay person.
AXELROD: The question is --
COOPER: I'm assuming, I can guess what it is like you know, anything related to drag, I guess in you know, that drag, you know, wearing as much makeup as Donald Trump wears, that would be considered not normal, talking about Donald Trump, but on a gay guy that wouldn't be considered normal.
AXELROD: The other point is the one that Erin was making, is this the way they want to close a campaign? Is this really what they want to be talking about.
She was right, his campaign, I mean, they had been running these trans ads, but they've also been focused on the economy and immigration and so on, and all of these detours are not the way you want to be closing a campaign and it --
COOPER: I mean, I know a lot of normal gay guys and I haven't heard a lot of them breaking this way.
AXELROD: Yes, apparently JD Vance knows them too.
COOPER: Yes.
CARLSON: As a parent that just went through the whole college process with the two children. I just have to admit that I never thought about having them be trans to have an upper edge to get into college.
So, I think that's a disservice to people who go through this personally within their families. I'm sure that, you know, it's not easy because of the way that you're treated when you come forward. And so, to say that people are actually going to go through this process to get into a school is crazy.
JONES: And I just want to point out in case JD has forgotten, he went to Yale. There are no shortage of upper middle-class White kids at our Ivy League schools.
This idea that if you're upper-middle class, White kid, you could not get it. Just please go to any Ivy League school, they are everywhere. That is not happening.
AXELROD: Some of them are legacies.
JONES: Exactly. And some of them have the last name of the building they are going.
COOPER: Which, by the way, yes, me. Actually, not Cooper but my -- anyway.
Van Jones, Gretchen Carlson, David Axelrod, Erin Perrine, thanks so much.
We should note that David's 600th episode of the "Axe Files" podcast is now out. I was honored to be a part of it. I get to interview David on his podcast about the 600th episode, you can listen to it right now at CNN.com.
We talked about -- and you're going to hear some really amazing, very personal interviews he's done. Surprisingly intimate interviews of people like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Justice Sotomayor, and a whole bunch of other people, a lot of sports figures too, I didn't know who they were, but it's really fascinating and it's out now, wherever you pitch your podcast.
AXELROD: Thank you for doing that.
COOPER: No, it's great.
Next, as we look at the Harris event in Reno, we'll be joined by her senior campaign adviser, David's old colleague on the Obama campaign, David Plouffe.
Plus, John King on the road to battleground Michigan, breaking down new polling on the race there and two sunbelt battlegrounds, a break first.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:22:03]
COOPER: You're looking at there live the Harris rally tonight in Reno, Nevada, her first of two events in the state this evening. The former president was also in Nevada earlier. They both have good reason for being there. The race can hardly be closer.
No clear leader in CNN polling there from Tuesday and there are new CNN numbers out tonight from battlegrounds, Georgia and North Carolina and other polling from Michigan where CNN's John King is tonight.
So what do the polls show about enthusiasm for the candidates in North Carolina and Georgia?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Those new polls are fascinating, as in all of these polls in every state are showing a dead heat. So, what do you do? You look deep into the poll to try to find any clues you can about what the dynamics are in the final days of the campaign.
Let's just quickly take a look at North Carolina. Remember 2020, this was Donald Trump's narrowest win of his red states, right, Joe Biden was pretty competitive there. It's on the board this time for the vice president. Then Georgia, of course, famously 11,779 votes. So, what did we learn in these new polls?
Look at this when you come out here and you look at the enthusiasm for your candidates. You're voting for your candidate, or are you voting against your candidate? Lot of Democrats early in this campaign were saying they were voting against Trump more than they were voting even for President Biden when he was the candidate.
Look, the Trump base is for Trump, we've known that since 2016. You see those high numbers, but this is interesting. These are better numbers for the vice president that we have seen in other battleground states. Essentially 70 percent or more than two-thirds of her supporters say it's about for her not a vote against Trump.
Now why is that? North Carolina and Georgia have two of the largest Black voting populations. That is the Democratic base. They were energized by the switch to Kamala Harris. They are the key if she's going to pull off wins in those states, that is the key and you see, Anderson, they're enthusiastic. They're in it for her, not just against Trump.
COOPER: What are voters saying about the Biden administrations response to hurricanes Helene, which obviously impacted both Georgia and North Carolina?
KING: All right, so this is interesting. Look at these numbers and I will bring them up here. You see the high disapproval, it's not a majority, but it's a high number in the 40's, 44 percent in Georgia, 47 percent, nearly half in North Carolina disapproving of the Biden administration's response to the hurricane.
Now, why is that? You've covered it on the program. There has been a lot of misinformation, a lot of disinformation. And frankly, from President Trump and his allies, a lot of lies, about the administration's response there.
If you talk to local officials on the ground, Democrats and Republicans, they will say the administration has done a pretty good job. There are always hiccups, but they've done a good job and they've been on the ground getting supplies there.
But you see that number, 47 percent in North Carolina. Disapproved, well, guess what happened today in North Carolina, the Harris campaign put up with a new ad from the popular Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, talking about his relationship with her and saying in the end, she will help the state recover from the hurricane. So the Harris campaign clearly sees these numbers and is trying to deal with them with that new ad.
COOPER: And in Georgia and North Carolina, is it statistically tied here or overall?
KING: All the battlegrounds, every one of these battlegrounds I'm going to flip the map here just to show you and come up to our race to 270, you see all seven of those, all seven of those yellow states on the map. Those are the battleground states, they are all within a point or two. No clear leader. Our polling shows the vice president a little bit ahead in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Other polls when you average them, essentially shows, this is within a point or two either way. Even if you have a two or three point lead you're still in play in the final days.
That's what makes this -- we're five days out, Anderson. That's what makes this race so fascinating.
[20:25:11]
COOPER: And you're in Michigan tonight for a stop in your five-day tour battleground states, how close the race there?
KING: Again, look at this one. Here's a brand new one from "The Washington Post tonight, tonight, 47 for Harris, 46 for Trump, right, so again, statistically that's a tie, It's a dead heat and again as I've said, I'm a broken record on your program but I always say, average them out if you can. Don't invest in any one poll.
So, if you look at the CNN Poll of Polls, that takes the five most recent reputable polls here in the state of Michigan. And what do you have? This one does show slight advantage for Harris. No clear leader. You're not outside the margin of error, but you'd rather be at 48 than 45. And I can tell you just being here on the ground, we'll talk about it later of the program.
I can talk about by being on the ground, people -- the Democrats here feel better now than they did even just a few weeks ago when I was here. Again though, statistical tie heading into the final five days, not just here in Michigan, but across the battlegrounds. Here we go.
COOPER: John King, thanks.
John will be back shortly with the report on Michigan voters that he's been talking to over the last year.
Joining us now is Harris campaign senior adviser, David Plouffe, who we should mention ran former President Obama's 2008 campaign. So David, there you seen the new poll numbers -- Georgia and North
Carolina. I mean, at this point or do you or do care about -- I mean, are you paying attention to these polls?
DAVID PLOUFFE, HARRIS CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISOR: Well, I try not to pay too much attention to any poll that's not our own, Anderson.
But I think our data is consistent with what the public data is, I think what probably the Trump data is, which is a close race in seven states. I would just point something out and one of the reasons that we're optimistic is let's say your poll, our poll we think our race is 48-47; 47-47. That's not a hundred percent of the vote. So the question is, the people who have not yet decided who to vote for, who are actually going to vote.
In our census in the last week, the people who made up their mind last week, we're doing quite well with and we like the people who've yet to make a decision in terms of who they look like from a data perspective and what they saw of report in terms of who they're more likely to vote for. So that's important.
In the early vote that we're seeing so far, we are on pace in all seven states to reach the number we think we need combined with election day turnout but it's very important to look at who those undecideds are. Obviously, a campaign like ours has a lot of sophisticated data. We look at its every day. We do quantitative research, qualitative research. But as we look at how a hundred percent of the vote is going to get allocated in the seven battleground states, we think we have an advantage over the Trump campaign.
COOPER: We're looking at live Vice President Harris at her event in Reno, comments like the ones that Trump made about protecting women, whether they like it or not. His rally, this -- on Sunday with a deeply offensive comments to Jews, Black people, Latinos, and Puerto Ricans. Do those have an impact this late in the race?
PLOUFFE: They do. It's a terrible way to close a presidential campaign and what's clear to me is, you know, Trump will go out there. You've seen, Anderson, over last day, him complaining, having temper tantrums about things that aren't true in Pennsylvania is because I'm sure he was briefed by his team that they don't like the Pennsylvania numbers. He gets briefed that he has real trouble with women voters. We saw this in '20, we're seeing it now. This is how we react in a way that doubles down and exacerbates his problems.
So yes, and listen, we spent a lot of time with voters. We're at their doors, we are in their communities. We also do a lot of qualitative research. We're listening to these undecided voters every hour of every day.
And the Madison Square Garden thing really broke through because what I've learned in politics is when something is consistent with what people think about you, they think that he's about chaos and division. So, that doubles down. The other thing we are picking up on CNN and I spent some time on this
in some of our discussions with undecided voters, this notion that not notion, Trump said he's going to put RFK, Jr. in charge of all the health care in the country. That greatly worries this few percent of voters who haven't yet decided to vote. A, because they don't think RFK should be in charge of our health care.
But a driving part of this race, Anderson is people are concerned that all the people that tried to check Trump last time are now speaking out against him, warning the country that it would be dangerous and he's going to be surrounded by the RFKs of the world and that very much concerns these voters who are still making their decision in these closing days.
COOPER: Speaker Johnson just yesterday or two days ago said, no Obamacare, he's now trying to walk that back. Do you buy this theory that is sort of whispered by some, I guess pushed by some, that there may be large numbers or a significant amount of women voters who support Harris but are not saying so publicly and their families or to pollsters.
PLOUFFE: Well, listen, we're being very conservative in our own day. I think we've learned that in 16 and 2020, you get Trump a lot of strength, both in terms of his turnout and a supports core so that we can run the kind of campaign to overcome that.
But, yes, I think if I'm surprised by anything on election night, it will be that differs than the data we are all seeing, is that maybe we do a point or two better with women across the board. And, obviously, more than 50 percent of the vote. We're seeing they're turning out in large numbers in early vote.
So, I think there's a potential for that for sure. And I think that would be with independent women voters and Republican women voters. So, in comments like Trump made yesterday about protecting women, whether they wanted to go not, is like nails on a chalkboard for these voters.
COOPER: David Plouffe, Thank you so much.
PLOUFFE: Thanks, Anderson.
COOPER: Coming up next, how the so-called Stop the Steal Movement, which, let's be clear, is based on lies and -- and misinformation, is gearing up to challenge the 2024 election results, with one supporter, the former president, going so far as to say, January 6th is going to be pretty fun. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:34:59]
COOPER: Vice President Harris is speaking right now in Reno, Nevada. These are live pictures. She's got another event in a few hours with Jennifer Lopez in North Las Vegas. We are still obviously days away from ballots being counted, but supporters of the former president already pushing false claims of voter fraud and promoting lies about a rigged election. Of course, they did this four years ago and they made a lot of money off it. None of it was true. And now it seems they are gearing up doing it again.
CNN's Doni O'Sullivan has more now on the multi-front plan some Trump supporters have to contest the election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like how much theft can they get away with in order to prevent Trump from winning.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he's going to win?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we have a fair election, yes.
O'SULLIVAN: There's no way he can lose fairly?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fairly, there's no way.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): MAGA world is preparing its followers for a stolen election.
GREG STENSTROM, AUTHOR: They're just going to announce Harris as the winner. They're going to go, we win again. And not try to stop us again. And what's stood for this time is we're going to be able to stop them.
MARK BURNS, PASTOR: Is there anybody here in North Carolina ready to take this nation back by any means necessary, say, yes, yes, yes.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): They're laying out step-by-step plans to overturn a potential Harris victory. These are not random Trump supporters. These are influential figures in the MAGA movement.
IVAN RAIKLIN, MAGA ACTIVIST: It's all going to depend on what they end up doing and a plan and strategy for every single component of it. And then January 6th is going to be pretty fun.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Many of them, like Ivan Raiklin and Michael Flynn, have huge audiences online and are involved in election-denying groups that have spent millions of dollars furthering election conspiracy theories.
MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: And we should know by Tuesday night by about 9:00 or 10 o'clock at night that one party won.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Election officials across the country have explained that we likely won't know the full results on election night. To conspiracy theorists, however, that is a sign of fraud.
FLYNN: In this case, I strongly believe that Donald Trump, if this thing is a fair election, he'll win all 50 states.
RAIKLIN: Now, if it's legit, we don't have to worry, right? But who thinks it's going to be legit? You think they're just going to give it to you? No, this is going to be a fight.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Raiklin has encouraged people to pressure their state representatives not to certify election results if they suspect fraud.
RAIKLIN: We try to play it fair. They steal it. Our state legislatures are our final stop to guarantee a checkmate.
Be prepared on January 1st to apply the maximum motivation to your state reps, state senators.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): In North Carolina, he and another right-wing activist are going as far to say there should be no election because of the destruction after Hurricane Helene. They say the Republican- controlled state legislature should decide which presidential candidates get their Electoral College votes.
NOEL FRITSCH, NATIONAL FILE: We don't have to do this popular vote in the state stuff for this federal election. We don't have to do it.
RAIKLIN: You got 120 House reps. How many of those are Republican? The majority. How about a significant majority? So then how is the House body going to likely vote with your motivation for the Republican nominee? What about the Senate? Majority.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): The idea is fringe and it is extreme, but a Republican congressman endorsed the idea at an event with Raiklin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's heck him up. You've got this enfranchised in 25 counties. You know what that vote probably would have been, which -- which should be, if I were in the legislature, not to go, yes, we'd have to be in the legislature. We can't --
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Before eventually walking it back. The idea that the only way Harris can win is if the election is stolen is being pushed across hundreds of MAGA media outlets and from the former president himself.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Because they cheat. That's the only way we're going to lose, because they cheat.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): And it's convincing his base.
O'SULLIVAN: What if the results show that Harris won? Do you think Trump will accept that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think anybody will accept that because we know it's going to be a lie. But -- but -- but if that's what it is, it's what it is. We'll -- we'll go from there. We'll see what happens.
O'SULLIVAN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I just don't think that Trump's going to lose.
O'SULLIVAN: You think he won last time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, definitely.
O'SULLIVAN: What happens if he loses?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he loses, we're all going down January 6th.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Donie O'Sullivan joins me now. I mean, a lot of the people who are pushing this, I mean, Mike Flynn, these guys are making money off this, right?
O'SULLIVAN: Oh, they sure are, Anderson. Yes, I mean, we even spoke last night about how Rudy Giuliani and the pillow guy are selling coffee and pillows and everything else. So look, there is money.
There's money to be made in this grift. There's money to be made in selling fear. And also, you know, a lot of these folks are -- are also telling their viewers that, you know, the Fed is about to collapse. The dollar is about to collapse. So therefore, put all your life saving into gold and silver. And, you know, the Alex Joneses of the world telling people to buy fro -- fro -- freeze dry food.
[20:40:02]
But look, I think what's more important here is the money that is behind. Like these guys that you're seeing in that piece, the degrees of separation between them and the Trump campaign, it's -- it's -- there's not many steps, right? They are involved in groups that have tens of millions of dollars behind them collectively in terms of challenging -- challenging integrity in elections and pushing a debunked election conspiracy theory. So these guys are serious.
COOPER: Yes. Donie O'Sullivan, thanks so much.
Joining me now is New York Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman. It is remarkable that all these lies that were told four years ago, which disproven, thrown out of court, nothing to it, are just being repeated now.
REP. DANIEL GOLDMAN (D-NY), OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY COMMITTEE: Yes, the difference is they're very specific right now about what, how the -- the, I mean, not -- not necessarily about how the fraud will happen, but that there will be fraud and there is fraud without specifying what it is, of course. But this is before the election. We're five days before the election. So the difference is this is a very premeditated plan.
They have filed lawsuits in numerous courts because they ran into problems last time, in their view, with standing, meaning that they had no claim to actually make that there was fraud. So they're filing all these lawsuits preemptively so that they can then follow up. It is clearly a much more sophisticated scheme.
It is much more well thought out. And --
COOPER: You think it could be worse this time because it's more sophisticated, more well thought out?
GOLDMAN: Worse is it's hard to say. I -- I -- what I -- I think that it is going to be more advanced and more sophisticated, whether, but I also think the states are -- are better prepared. Certainly Congress tried to shore up some of these rules with the Electoral Count Act of 2022. But there's no question that this is the plan.
And you hear Trump laying the foundation for it already. And just the notion that a -- that Kamala Harris cannot win a free and fair election is so preposterous.
COOPER: The -- I -- I want to play something that the former president addressed to Mike Johnson at his rally in Madison Square Garden the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think with our little secret, we're going to do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a secret. We'll tell you what it is when the race is over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Speaker Johnson released a statement in response saying, by definition, the secret is not to be shared. And I don't intend to share this one. Later on, he downplayed it, saying the secret actually involved get out the vote efforts. Do you have trust in the leadership of the House to -- to ensure the results of the election?
GOLDMAN: I have trust in the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries to certify the election. I have no trust in Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson was the architect of an amicus brief that tried -- went to the Supreme Court to try to overturn the last election.
And he has been very clear that he is ready, willing, and able to serve Donald Trump. The more interesting quote in response to that statement was from the Trump campaign. They said, oh, the little secret is just about tele rallies that Trump is having with about get out the vote.
First of all, if he's doing get out the vote by tele rallies, he should join the 21st century. There are much better and more effective ways of doing it. But more importantly, that's a very routine and standard thing.
That's not a little secret for somebody who doesn't turn over his medical records, doesn't turn over his taxes, has secret conversations with Vladimir Putin, et cetera, et certera. So when, you know, my spidey ears went up because when someone gives a completely implausible explanation, it begs a lot more questions.
And if Mike Johnson is the speaker of the House, he could do a lot of things to mess with the certification of the Electoral College. Last time around, it was focused on Vice President Pence because Nancy Pelosi was the speaker of the House. If it is the Republicans who have the majority after Tuesday, they're -- all bets are off as to what they would be willing to do.
COOPER: Congressman Dan Goldman, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
[20:44:29]
Still ahead, more from John King in Battleground, Michigan. He's talking with college students who are helping to get out the vote for the two campaigns, what they have to say about the election in this final stretch, part of John's All Over the Map series. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Five days out, as you saw earlier from John King, new polling shows a razor-thin race in Battleground, Michigan, with 15 electoral votes at stake. The state is part of the so-called Blue Wall, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, that often paves the path to the White House. The three states have been Democratic strongholds for decades.
That's until 2016, when Trump won all of them. Four years ago, Biden gained them all back. More now from John in Michigan. He spoke with college students playing a key role for the election as he continues his All Over the Map series.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm calling to ask Michigan Republican headquarters, five days out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If President Trump can count on you in his support in this election.
KING (voice-over): A basement phone bank shift. Ralph Brennan among the Michigan State students helping turn out the vote.
RALPH BRENNAN, CAMPUS COORDINATOR AT MICHIGAN TRUMP TEAM: I think there's a red wave coming, especially in Michigan, and I think people will be very surprised on how many people vote Republican this election.
KING (voice-over): Brennan is 21, a junior economics major from Ohio, but he registered in Michigan for his first vote for president.
BRENNAN: I was a sixth grader when Trump got elected in 16, and I -- I -- I watched him come to the White House, I watched the inauguration, I watched all the great things he did.
KING (voice-over): Trump struggled with young voters in 2016 and 2020. Brennan predicts better numbers this time, especially among young men.
[20:50:03]
BRENNAN: Trump. The cowboys. Thank you guys.
KING (voice-over): And especially after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ended his campaign and backed Trump. BRENNAN: I've heard a lot of young guys say how much -- how important RFK was to their President Trump vote. You know, ever since Trump kind of brought RFK onto the team, onto the campaign, a lot of young -- young men voters really, really like that and kind of resonate with -- with RFK when he's done.
KING (voice-over): In a dead heat race, organization can be the difference. Halloween spirit helps.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These cookies too.
KING (voice-over): Treats as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you fill out one of our pledge to vote please?
KING (voice-over): Jade Gray is a progressive organizer, former co- president of the College Democrats here at the University of Michigan, back on campus to encourage early voting.
JADE GRAY, DIGITAL ORGANIZING MANGER, PROGRESS MICHIGAN: We know that when we vote, we win. And quite frankly, we're getting a lot of people out to vote.
KING (voice-over): Gray's optimism is a big shift. This is our fourth Ann Arbor visit in a year. Back at the beginning, she was down about President Biden's prospects. And later, she was worried Vice President Harris would still lose too many young voters because of student anger over the Israel-Hamas conflict.
GRAY: Have you guys voted yet? OK, yay, thanks.
KING (voice-over): But she is upbeat now and credits a mix of constant organizing and a smarter approach from the Harris campaign.
GRAY: It was not just the candidate that switched, but it was really their whole approach for the campaign. And leaning into this idea that memes and internet culture is a, you know, a mode of communicating about politics has totally transformed this race. And I think will be, you know, one of the biggest reasons to, one of the biggest things we should credit. I'm saying when, but if she wins.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: John joins us again from Ann Arbor. So what do the college students say matters to them most when casting their vote?
KING: It's interesting because there has been a shift. Now you hear about student loan debt. You hear about the economy. You hear about their objections to Trump and his rhetoric. His rhetoric on LGBTQ issues, his rhetoric on immigration issues. They think the Vice President is younger. They think she's more hip, more interesting on the Internet. As you heard Jade Gray there say there at the end.
That's a very different mood. You heard Jade Gray at the end there. My first trip here, Anderson, was a year ago. This is my fourth trip here. She was a lot more despondent then. Biden was the candidate. She was down. Even after the switch to Harris, she was still, eh, about her chances, much more upbeat now because of activity on campuses.
I just want to quickly bring in the wall and just show you. So we're in Washtenaw County. That's where the University of Michigan is. Earlier today, we saw that young Republican voter. We were up in Ingham County. Both of these counties are big blue counties. And on the college campuses, you see a lot of early voting. You do see a lot of energy. And look, this is a very tight competitive race. But the Harris people feel better now than they did just a few weeks ago.
COOPER: And how does the war in Gaza play into all this?
KING: Well, that's a fascinating question. Because remember, I came back from one of my pieces here. And I was with you in New York on the set. When we were here, there was a big encampment. And there was a big protest, not only against the university administration, but against the Biden administration.
And that carried over against the Vice President. The university won't allow encampments anymore. So you don't physically see the anger. I was talking to Jade Gray because she does a lot of online organizing. She says you do still see some of it online. But she is convinced many of those students are still going to vote for Harris, even though they're angry at the administration, because they think Trump would be even worse on those questions, Anderson.
COOPER: John King, thanks.
[20:53:21]
Next, I want you to hear from a remarkable woman. She's 93 and survived being sent to Auschwitz when she was just 13. She's my guest in the latest episode of my podcast, All There Is. You'll hear from her in a moment about how she survived and how she lives with unimaginable grief.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: New episode of my podcast, All There Is, is available now wherever you get podcasts. You can also point your cell phone camera right now at the QR code on the bottom of the screen to listen to it.
I talked this week with an extraordinary survivor of the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz. It was originally something I shot for 60 minutes. Irene Weiss was deported to Auschwitz along with nearly half a million Hungarian Jews in 1944.
Eighty percent of those people were killed immediately in gas chambers. Irene's parents, her three brothers, her little sister Edith, they were all murdered there. Irene and her older sister survived.
Irene was just 13 years old, and the grief she's felt, well, she's felt it her entire life since then.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The -- the 13-year-old girl that you were, do you still feel that little girl at times? Or did you bury her early on --
IRENE WEISS: No, that's a good question. That's really a very good question. I'm stuck there. I'm really stuck there. That's really the biggest fight. And -- and that's where all the -- the grief is.
COOPER: Have you been able to cry in subsequent years?
WEISS: Still not, still not. You know, people say broken heart. The -- the heart keeps working, but the soul never forgets. There is a soul that does not forget any of it. It's imprinted on the soul that keeps the memory, the pain, the grief. It's just always there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You can hear more of the conversation, it's available right now wherever you get your podcasts. Again, you can point the -- the camera at the QR code on the screen. Another way to access it is to go to cnn.com/allthereisonline. It's our new online grief community. You connect with me there and others living with grief. You can leave comments, share your own experiences with grief and watch a video version of that podcast and all the other podcast episodes. They're also available on the CNN channel on YouTube.
[21:00:20]
That's it for us. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now. See you tomorrow.
