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Liz Cheney Responds After Trump Suggests She Should be Fired Upon; Orlando Police Say, Teen Shooting Suspect Accused of Killing Two, Injuring Six; RNC Files Emergency Appeal Asking Pennsylvania Supreme Court to Force Counties to Reject Mail-In Ballots With Wrong Dates. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 01, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, Liz Cheney is responding this morning to Donald Trump, specifically Donald Trump declaring before a crowd that Cheney should be put before a firing line.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: An emergency appeal by Republicans to reject certain Pennsylvania ballots over technical reasons, like the wrong date. The legal challenge is underway in the largest battleground state.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And rapper Young Thug released from jail after nearly three years behind bars in Georgia's sweeping RICO case. This is the longest case in the state's history.

I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: So, Liz Cheney responding this morning for the first time to what can only be described as a wildly dangerous and reckless declaration from former President Donald Trump, especially considering he's had two assassination attempts on his life. Four days to Election Day, and Liz Cheney is saying today, this is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death.

So, what is Liz Cheney responding to? Donald Trump before a crowd in Arizona last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.

You know, they're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, oh, gee, well, let's send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee, around Milwaukee is where both Harris and Donald Trump will be later today.

But, Jeff, focusing on this, this response from Liz Cheney that just came out this morning, what more is she saying?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Kate, good morning. The former Wyoming congresswoman who, of course, was the top Republican investigating the attacks on January 6th and Donald Trump has been threatening and hurting Liz Cheney ever since, she goes on to say in this new statement now just a short time ago, we cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.

Of course, Liz Cheney has emerged in this campaign as one of the leading supporters and surrogates for Vice President Kamala Harris. That is just one of the biggest examples of the upside down nature of this campaign, a conservative Republican supporting the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris. But, last night, the former president went on to say that he believes that because of a foreign policy that Liz Cheney simply does not represent the view of Americans.

Of course, this dark rhetoric is closing this campaign in a far different way than the two previous campaigns in 2016 and 2020. However, politically speaking, we do not know if there will be any fallout from this. It sounds extraordinary to say, but given all the rhetoric, all the back and forth, even language like this may not move this electorate.

But Liz Cheney has been out on the campaign trail here in Wisconsin and across the blue wall in Michigan, Pennsylvania, other places, I'm told, she may be responding to this more later today, and Vice President Harris also could be. But there is no doubt four days before Election Day, this deep, dark rhetoric is hanging over this race.

BOLDUAN: I mean, absolutely, Jeff. I mean, there's going to be more coming from this for sure.

Also, from Donald Trump last night, he was speaking -- he continued to talk, to focus on women's issues and women voters in his closing message, and as part of that, he now says that he wants RFK Jr. to focus on and take on and handle women's health. What?

ZELENY: And, Kate, that has been another extraordinary development, really, over the last several weeks. RFK Jr., of course, ran for president here in Wisconsin and in Michigan.

[07:05:01]

He is on the ballot. But Donald Trump has been trying to extend his hand to RFK Jr., saying he would invite him into his administration. He said this last night,

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., we have, and he's going to work on health and women's health and all of the different reasons because we're not really a wealthy or a healthy country. He really wants to -- with the pesticides and the -- you know, all the different things, but I said he could do it. He could do anything he wants. He wants to look at the vaccines. He wants everything. I think it's great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, that, of course, look at the vaccines. That has been one of the biggest controversies that RFK Jr. has had. It's one of the reasons he ran for president, his vaccine skepticism, misleading information. Now, Donald Trump is saying he would be at the center of his administration.

But, again, important to point out, one of the political reasons Donald Trump is doing this, he is trying to get RFK supporters to vote for him. In fact, just this week RFK Jr. was here in Wisconsin campaigning and he said, do not vote for me, vote for Donald Trump.

So, for all the wild cards hanging over this race, and there are many, his name is still on the ballot here and in a tight race, that too could matter, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Jeff Zeleny in Wisconsin for us. Thanks, Jeff. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, Vice President Kamala Harris keeping her focus on driving home the dangers of a second Donald Trump term, particularly for women. She repeatedly slammed him for saying he'll protect women whether they like it or not. Harris leaves Las Vegas today to campaign in Wisconsin.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is in Vegas, where Jennifer Lopez headlined a rally for the vice president last night. Priscilla, how is Harris framing her attacks now on Donald Trump?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, one of the key components of the vice president's closing argument over these next several days is going to be about the former President Donald Trump consumed by revenge. She is trying to paint a photo of the vice -- or sorry, of the former president plotting revenge in the Oval Office. She has often said on the campaign trail recently that the former president is consumed with what she calls his enemies list while she is working on her to-do list for Americans. That was her message here in Nevada yesterday.

Now, in doing that, she's also warning of a second potential Trump term and also talking about the freedoms that are at risk if the former president were to be elected. And on that front, she talks about reproductive freedom. And yesterday, she tailored that message even more to respond to what the former president has said about women. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He simply does not respect the freedom of women or the intelligence of women to know what's in their own best interest and make decisions accordingly. But we trust women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, of course, that message is also going to be crucial as she goes into the next few days because she is also trying to keep her lead with women as polls have shown she has.

Now, today, she's going to take all of this to Wisconsin. You heard there from Jeff that Liz Cheney has been a leading supporter for the vice president. She was recently in Wisconsin with Vice President Kamala Harris. So, certainly, she is probably going to be talking about more of that because she is trying to reach those disaffected Republicans, Republicans who are fatigued by Trump and do not want to hear this rhetoric.

The vice president, of course, has been rapidly responding too much of the former president's comments in recent days. So, we anticipate we'll hear more from her today on all of that. Sara?

SIDNER: And we must note the sphere behind you with a spooky message today. It is not the actual moon, but it certainly looks like it.

Thank you so much, Priscilla Alvarez. I appreciate your reporting there. John?

BERMAN: All right, a gunman opens fire on a crowded Halloween party, killing two people. What we know about the suspect this morning.

And we are watching stock futures this morning as the October jobs report is set to come out very shortly in the green right now.

And new reaction this morning to a series of comments by J.D. Vance, including that teenagers are pretending to be transgender to get a leg up in college admissions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BERMAN: All right. Breaking news this morning from Orlando, two people are dead, six others injured after a shooter opened fire in a packed crowd celebrating Halloween downtown. You can see the police body camera footage catching the moment the police say they tackled the shooter to the ground.

CNN's Miguel Marquez here with the details. Miguel, what happened?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, eight people hit, two dead sadly, but this could have been a lot worse and it's also amazing how quickly police are reacting to this. This all happened just a few hours ago, 1:00 A.M. It's a very busy night, Halloween night in Orlando downtown, lots of bars, lots of restaurants, not very young people, the victims in this situation, all between 19 and 39 years old.

Police releasing that video you talked about. The first one when police saw this gunman, you can see this crowd just scatter very, very rapidly. And you see police then running toward, of course, toward the danger and trying to figure it out. That suspect then goes to a second location and police released video of that were. You can see the police actually tackle the gunman as well. This is that second scene there and you can see them all set up there.

[07:15:00]

They go after him. They put him on the ground right there.

And they've also released body cam video of this scene so you can see up close. It is absolutely incredible how quickly police responded to this. There was a big police presence there because this is a big night in Orlando, but also then how they turned around all this video gives you a sense of just how accustomed we're getting to these mass shootings.

The police chief said this about the shooter,

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ERIC SMITH, ORLANDO POLICE: Whatever his mindset was, he was going to shoot no matter what. He walked by multiple officers. We followed where he came from. He walked by at least ten officers, walked directly by them, kept moving past the officers so he knew what he was going to do, what he thought his mind was going to do. It's unfortunate some people see somebody they don't like, somebody that, you know, they have some sort of beef with and they take whatever action they're going to take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: So, the police chief also saying during that press conference that this is an event that they used to pre-screen for guns at, but they cannot do anymore because of Florida's law on carrying concealed weapons, allowing concealed -- carrying concealed weapons.

BERMAN: As we said, this just happened a couple hours ago, new details coming in. Miguel Marquez, great to have you covering this, thank you so much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Republicans are asking Pennsylvania's highest court to declare mail-in ballots that have a missing date or have just an incorrect date written on them to be tossed, not counted this election. What's behind that move?

And the president of the Chicago School Board resigns a week after anti-Semitic and sexist posts were found on his Facebook page.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

SIDNER: Just four days before the election and the legal battle over mail-in ballots heating up in the battleground Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The RNC has filed an emergency appeal with the state Supreme Court looking to enforce a mandate that would reject mail-in ballots that aren't correctly dated by voters.

This is just the latest in a string of legal challenges in Pennsylvania, something that could come to define the election as early voting is very popular in the Keystone State.

CNN's Danny Freeman is live in Philadelphia for us with more. Tell us about this battle and what it might mean for the election.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you bet, Sara. And it's interesting to note that, like you said, there are a lot of voting rights stories coming out of Pennsylvania right now, but a lot of them have longer histories than just the past few days. Nevertheless, as you noted, it's colliding, of course, with the election coming up.

So, this first one concerns these mail-in ballots. Remember, Pennsylvania mail in ballots have three parts. They have the ballot itself, then they have the secrecy envelope, and then they have the actual envelope that you send the whole thing in. On that third envelope, you have to sign and date it, okay? But the problem is that in the past, there have been legal challenges because sometimes people either forget to date the envelope at all. They put in their birthday instead of the date. They fill it out.

Well, this is exactly what this latest lawsuit appeal from the RNC is about. They've appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to clarify after a couple of dueling rulings this particular week to clarify that counties must enforce not counting any of those mail-in ballots that are undated. We'll see ultimately if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court weighs in. They have until Monday, or at least that's the hope from the RNC.

The other thing, Sara, that I'll quickly note when it comes to mail-in ballots is this, you said the word early voting in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania really does not have early voting. They have an on-demand mail-in system, and this is what tripped up folks in Bucks County earlier. It's not like you walk into a polling place and it simulates the idea of voting on Election Day. Instead, you have to go into an elections office, request a mail-in ballot, you apply for it, you get it back then with an elections official, and then you first fill it out and hand it over to a drop box or something like that.

Well, there were videos that went viral back earlier in the week in Bucks County in particular of long lines and some people getting turned away early before they could apply for that mail in ballot to then turn in. Well, the RNC and the Trump campaign, they sued Bucks County. They got the deadline extended. So today, actually, only in Bucks County, voters have an opportunity to do that early voting, really, that on-demand mail-in voting until the end of the day.

So, Sara, these are all these sorts of stories that are kind of swirling around Pennsylvania in these final days before the election. It's challenging. It's confusing to some voters. And, really, when it comes to mail-in balloting, the Legislature of Pennsylvania had opportunities to kind of get in there and fix some issues over the past several years since they introduced this back in 2019, and they just haven't. And I think now you're seeing some of that come to fruit again in these final days before the 2024 election, Sara.

SIDNER: Lots of questions about whether voters, if they accidentally put the wrong date, can cure that, lots of questions here and at such an important state with 19 electoral votes.

Danny Freeman, thank you so much for your reporting. John?

BERMAN: All right, Republican Liz Cheney responds after Donald Trump's new violent threat. He said, quote, let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her.

And why Donald Trump is suing CBS for $10 billion over an interview they did with Vice President Harris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: Both candidates will be in battleground Wisconsin today, a state that has been very close. How close? Well, Joe Biden won four years ago just by 20,000 votes. And then four years before that, in 2016, Donald Trump won by 22,000 votes. It was close even before that. You go back to 2004, John Kerry won by 11,000 votes. And in 2000, Al Gore won but just by 6,000 votes. So, Wisconsin always or often pretty close.

I want to go back to 2020 and tell you about where Vice President Harris is going today. She's going to Janesville, which is Rock County. Janesville is also the hometown of former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who's been very critical of Donald Trump. Maybe she will go there and quote Paul Ryan at her event.

She is also going to Outagamie County. That is where Appleton is, great minor league baseball park there. You can see this has been fairly red recently. Donald Trump won by ten points. Four years before that, he won by 13. So, what Harris wants to do is keep the margins closer here, a little bit closer like it was four years ago.

[07:30:04]

Finally, she's going to Milwaukee, a Democratic stronghold, the most populous county in the state --