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Georgia Judge Rules County Election Officials Cannot Delay or Decline Certification of Election Results; Trump Attacks Harris Over Calls to Release His Medical Records; Harris in Battleground Michigan Three Weeks from Election Day. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 15, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin this hour with breaking news out of Georgia. A judge there has handed down a major decision on the first day of early voting in this crucial battleground state. The ruling says that county election officials in Georgia cannot delay or decline to certify election results.

Let's go to CNN's Nick Valencia. He is in Atlanta for us. Nick, this is a very big decision, has a lot of implications. What can you tell us?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's not creating new laws. So, generally, it's actually underscoring the current existing Georgia law that certification is mandatory. This ruling coming from Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney stemming from a lawsuit brought forward by Julie Adams, and that's somebody who made news earlier this spring. She's a member of the Fulton County Board of Elections, and she refused to certify the presidential primary results.

But Judge McBurney sending a very clear message that certification is mandatory. And this is what he's saying in part of his ruling. Quote, if election superintendents were, as plaintiff urges, free to play investigator, prosecutor, jury and judge, and so because of a unilateral determination of error or fraud, refuse to certify election results, Georgia voters would be silenced. Our Constitution and our Election Code do not allow for that to happen.

Now, we are still standing by for another ruling on certification. That lawsuit coming from Democrats who are contesting the reasonable inquiry rule, which they say could give power to rogue Georgia elections officials to refuse to certify results. All of that, you know, playing out in the court as early voting is underway. None of that though seems to be on the minds of voters. It's just the energy and enthusiasm.

And we're joined now by one of those early voters, Dr. Iyabo Webzell. Come on in here, Doctor, we'd love to get your take on how the process was. Come on this side of me, please, if you will. What was the process like for you guys going inside of early voting compared to the last time you did it in 2020?

DR. IYABO WEBZELL, GEORGIA VOTER: It was easy. It was so easy. Nick, right? Nick, that's your name. It was easy. We walked in. It took less than five minutes. Everyone was, you know, smiling, and in a good mood, in and out. It was so easy.

Last time, the line was longer because I came later in the day. But today I'm like, in fact, I wanted to be there at 7:00 A.M. in the front of the line, but I was busy doing things. So, it was easy. Five minutes in and out. Everything was peaceful and streamlined.

VALENCIA: What are one of the issues that's animated your energy here to come here and to vote and register?

WEBZELL: Okay, lots of issues. But the main issue I wanted to talk about is, as you can tell, I'm not from here originally. I'm a naturalized American. I'm Nigerian-American. I've been here for 26 years. I'm a board certified pediatrician. I'm a very successful entrepreneur. I've had my practice indicator for 20 years. So, when I hear on the news all the talk about immigrants doing this and that and all of the negative talk, it breaks my heart because I have two daughters and I have two step sons.

And, you know, we contribute a lot to America. I pay a lot of taxes, I've created jobs for so many people. So, it breaks my heart when all of that negative goes, it goes around. So I just wanted to represent all of the immigrants and all of the migrants who are in America who are doing great work.

[10:05:01]

Without us, America would have a lot of problems. So --

VALENCIA: Well, thank you so much for what you do. We know one candidate particularly has been especially vitriolic when it comes to immigrants and we really appreciate you sending your message and representing your community.

A lot of enthusiasm here clearly and several issues animating voters and the reason that they're out here, Fulton County, of course, consequential in the 2020 presidential election. We'll see if it has a similar fate, Jim, in 2024.

ACOSTA: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you. A clear example right there that Trump's rhetoric about immigrants is going to have an impact in this upcoming election. We just saw right there in the crucial battleground state of Georgia. Nick, thanks so much.

Joining me now is former Atlanta Mayor and Senior Adviser to the Harris-Walz Campaign Keisha Lance Bottoms. Keisha, I thought it's very interesting what Nick was hearing from that voter just a few moments ago, but I do want to ask you about the breaking news, this Georgia judge saying that county election officials in your state cannot delay or decline to certify election results, essentially saying they can't play games with the election results.

FMR. MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D-ATLANTA, GA): Yes. And this is so important. And I want to remind people, Jim, that this is a judge who was appointed by a Republican governor in Georgia, Governor Nathan Deal. Judge McBurney is known to be very thoughtful, very pragmatic. And this is important because not only do we have county election officials attempting to manipulate this election but also this state election board that has gone rogue.

And what's interesting about what's happening statewide is that you have Republicans speaking out against this election board because we all know how important Georgia was in 2020. And we also know that the governor and the secretary of state held very firm in that we had free and fair elections in 2020. And so this just -- what's happening now is creating confusion. And I think that's exactly what Donald Trump wants to happen. It wants to have happened in this state with nearly 5 million people voting in 2020. The thought that even these ballots will have to be hand counted is not what we need this election season.

So, I'm glad that early voting has finally started. People need to show up and make sure that our margin of votes is not thin like it was in 2020, so we can put aside any concerns about election interference.

ACOSTA: And, Keisha, I did want to ask you about a follow-up on this because, you know, we saw in the aftermath of the 2020 election, Donald Trump attempting to overturn the election results in Georgia when he tried to strong arm the secretary of state there, Brad Raffensperger, to find votes that didn't exist. He's given shout outs to some of these state election officials who were on this election board that you were just speaking about a few moments ago. Is the Harris campaign prepared for these types of problems that could occur after November 5th?

BOTTOMS: We are prepared. We have attorneys in place, of course, but also just reminding people that they've got to get out and vote, because we know that there are going to be things happening across the state that are going to try and bring into question it the integrity of votes across his state. And, you know, you have Donald Trump on the other side who is on the stage dancing as FEMA workers are being threatened in North Carolina, as he is threatening to use the military and the National Guard to go after his political opponents. He's having this let them eat cake dance moment on stage.

And so we are prepared as best as we can be prepared with attorneys in place, looking at the issues, but also just encouraging people to go and vote. We take very seriously our history as a civil rights cradle, the civil rights movement in America, and we know we've got to do our part.

ACOSTA: All right. Keisha Lance Bottoms, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

BOTTOMS: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. And coming up, looking for a blue wave in Michigan. We'll talk to the head of the Democratic Party there on Vice President Kamala Harris' best path to victory in that state. And there are concerns from Democrats that the vice president has some work to do in that state. We'll talk about that next.

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ACOSTA: Former President Donald Trump is responding to calls from the Harris campaign to release his medical records. He responded in a very late night Truth Social post saying, quote, I put out more medical exams than any other president in history and aced two cognitive exams. The doctor stated that my cognitive exams were exceptional. So, reading a quote here, I am far healthier than Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, but especially Kamala.

Just fact checking here, he has not released more medical exams than any other president in history. He has released relatively little detailed information about his own medical history.

But let's continue this conversation with CNN Political Commentator Shermichael Singleton and Paul Begala. Shermichael, I'll go to you first. Is the former president hiding something here? What's going on?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I don't know if he's hiding anything, but what I do know is that he's falling for the trap. He's falling for the bait. And look, I got to give it to the Harris campaign for baiting the former president is exactly what she did in the debate they had several weeks ago and he fell for it. This election is close.

I would advise them don't waste your time responding to this type of stuff, focus on the issues. But I will also give credit to the Harris campaign. It's important to know what gets under your opponent's skin and you're seeing it in real time.

ACOSTA: Yes.

[10:15:00]

Paul, Trump says he's far healthier than Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden and Kamala Harris. Your thoughts?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Prove it. Prove it, Donald. Put out your medical records. Look, Thomas Jefferson said, when a person becomes a public official, they become public property, okay? Our presidents have an obligation morally. They don't have one legally. I wish they did. They have a moral obligation to tell the American people about their health. We've had in history presidents hide health crisis. I think at JFK, for example, had Addison's disease and lied about it, and we needed to know that. So, I think this could be tragically serious.

The reason -- I've done this a long time. The reason politicians don't put something out is because they can't, right, because they don't want to. Because there's something in there they don't want you to see. He won't put out his, his medical records. And after this episode yesterday, where he stopped answering questions at his own town hall from his own supporters and then stood there oddly for 39 minutes swaying to YMCA and other disco, I mean, it was -- seriously, think about it. Your uncle Donald did that at a school board meeting, you have an intervention. You call a doctor.

ACOSTA: And there were all these questions about Joe Biden's, you know, health and so on. And it led to his departure from the race. And, I mean, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, so I heard. But let's show some of this rally yesterday. His rally derailed yesterday, Shermichael, after two attendees of the rally needed some medical attention and then this happened. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Go and vote. Let me hear that music, please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone,

TRUMP: Nice and loud.

So, play YMCA, go ahead, let's go. Nice and loud.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we go, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes. They're playing YMCA. I'm just asking why, Shermichael. Why, 39 minutes?

SINGLETON: Look, Jim, I don't know. Look, the president, former president, rather, is an unorthodox candidate, to say the least. I think we all know that. I take a lot of Paul's points. I think he has some validity to some of the things that he's stated. But, again, I think, strategically speaking, and I'm just looking at this as objectively as I possibly can, the Harris campaign is, I guess, putting forward smart strategy, as I said before, in real time, we're seeing the result.

The vice president's argument as of late has been and even I think a day or two ago, she had a big screen up, showcasing some of the former president's previous statements. And she said, listen to what he's saying. Listen to how unhinged he is. You shouldn't vote for this person. And now they're baiting him with the vice president in that interview with Roland Martin by saying, why won't he release his medical records? And then the former president has fallen for that.

So, again, Jim, my point here is, it's an effective strategy from the vice president and her campaign, and Trump has fallen for it, and he shouldn't, he's playing right into their cards, right into their hands.

ACOSTA: But there's something else going on here, and that was supposed to be a town hall, where he was going to take questions, and he just stopped taking questions and decided to keep dancing. He wouldn't do 60 Minutes. He's not releasing his medical records. Pretty much the only time you see him do an interview these days, it's on Fox where, I mean, which is basically like, you know, professional wrestling, it's choreographed in advance.

I mean, Paul Begala, I mean, it does seem as though if you look at what's taking place in the last stage of this camp, he doesn't want to debate Kamala Harris. The former president is kind -- I mean, he's not kind. He is hiding. He's hiding from taking serious questions in this final stage of the campaign.

BEGALA: Yes, look, I'm not a doctor, so I have no idea what's behind it. But I can just tell you as a layman, that boy ain't right. He needs a checkup from the neck up, okay? There's something going on with him. And, yes, it's Donald Trump, he's always eccentric. Go look at tape of him nine years ago. Jim, you covered him every day at the White House. He wasn't like this.

ACOSTA: No, that's right.

BEGALA: And I think the Harris campaign, they've done something really smart here. For the longest time, anytime Democrats talk about Trump, including myself, I was guilty of this, we would scream at you all that he was a dictator and a strongman. That only strengthened him with his supporters.

Kamala Harris is pointing out the ugly truth, the sad truth, it's really sad, that he's now just weak and unstable and unhinged. It's not that he's always so powerful and strong. That poor boy, I'm serious, he needs a glass of water, he needs a nap. I don't know what's going on.

ACOSTA: I mean --

SINGLETON: If I could just jump in quickly here, I will say this, it may be -- and Paul, you and I have talked about this off camera, it may be a part of a strategy from the campaign. Maybe they think, God, if we put the former president out here more, if we put him out before adversarial journalists, at least from their perspective, he may say something that could potentially turn off voters.

[10:20:04]

So, maybe we play it smart, put him on Fox and put him at his rallies. That could be a part of a tactical strategy for the campaign, but it wouldn't be a bad strategy.

ACOSTA: And I just want to say for the folks at home are saying, oh, well, you know, why are you picking on Donald Trump when there were questions about Joe Biden, whether he was fit to be the Democratic nominee? We had David Axelrod on, we had David Gergen on, I had a Douglas Brinkley on, all questioning whether or not Joe Biden should continue as a Democratic nominee. There really isn't anybody asking this question about Donald Trump. Go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry, Paul.

BEGALA: Well, yes, the Democrats have a political party. Political parties exist to win. Democrats believed that Biden could not win. I was one of them. Biden stepped aside. The Republicans have now become a cult of personality. Trump is not their strongest candidate. He's the only president since Herbert Hoover who lost the House, the Senate, the White House in four years. That's hard to do.

So, he's not -- believe me, they could have put somebody else up. They'd be up by ten points right now. People want change. Democrats are in the White House. This should be a Republican election. But they've formed this cult of personality.

And they will defend the indefensible. Not Shermichael, you've been very candid about this, but the real MAGA acolytes around him are not doing the country any favors by advancing some guy who's clearly just unhinged and too weak to do the job.

SINGLETON: But you know what's so interesting about this, Paul, and I've thought a lot about this, the race is tied. And I don't think it's just the Trump voters who have allowed the president to showcase this interesting level of strength that's typically underestimated.

And so, you know, looking at this, you're wondering, well, who are the voters out there? Who are those swing voters, those independent voters who are saying, you know what, maybe I don't like the personality, maybe I don't like the traits, but there are other issues that I think he's stronger on. They appear to be supporting him, which is why the vice president doesn't have the lead that she had a couple of weeks ago.

ACOSTA: All right. Guys, I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Good conversation, as always.

SINGLETON: Thanks, Jim.

BEGALA: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. As Donald Trump hits the battleground state of Georgia today, Vice President Kamala Harris begins her day in Michigan. It's considered one of her three best paths to victory. But her campaign does face some eroding support in Michigan, and Harris has just three weeks to make up some ground there.

Joining us now is Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party. Thank you so much for being with us, Madam Chairwoman.

I do want to ask you about some of the reporting that we've seen in recent weeks that some Democratic leaders in Michigan are beginning to worry that the state could be lost to Donald Trump. What are you seeing?

LAVORA BARNES, CHAIR, MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Yes, I am seeing a tight race, which we always knew it would be. We have been operating here in Michigan on the assumption that this race would be tight right down to the finish. It's why we built the program we built. That's why we're doing the work that we're doing. We're going to continue working and running through this finish line.

It's going to be tight. We know that. So, we're working hard to make sure we get to all of our voters, remind them of the importance of this election, talk to them about their plan to vote and get them out to vote.

ACOSTA: And the vice president, I mean, you and I both know that she has faced some concerns over support among young black men. Her campaign has answered with this new opportunity agenda that would help boost the finances and careers of black men. I'm just curious what your thoughts are on that. Is that going to make a difference, or is that message getting through?

BARNES: I think that we need to continue delivering that message. I think it's great that the vice president and her team have put together this agenda for black men. I love the entrepreneurship angle. We've been talking about entrepreneurship with black folks here in Michigan for a long, long time. I love the health angle on this. Let's talk about the issues that affect black men's health. I think we talk about that nearly enough. This agenda is strong and I'm glad she's got it out there.

I love that she's coming back to Michigan. She's got terrific surrogates coming into Michigan to talk about these issues, to talk directly to the communities about the importance of this election. We've been having great events across the state with black men and black folks and all the voters all over the state. And we're just going to continue doing it, Jim.

It's so important that we get the message out, not just the message about this agenda, which is important and so, so vital to the future of Michiganders, but also about Donald Trump and remind folks of who he is, do what she does, right, tell the story of who he is, the words that he is saying, the oddness that he projects. It's not presidential and she is presidential and we're going to keep talking about it.

ACOSTA: All right. Labora Barnes, thank you so much for your time. We'll check back in with you over the next few weeks. I hope we can have you back on real soon. Thanks so much.

All right, coming up in just a few minutes from now, an update from Georgia election officials with the first day of early voting underway, just as a judge ruled that county election officials cannot delay voting or decline certification of election results, a very big development as we head closer to Election Day.

Stay with us.

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[10:25:00]

ACOSTA: In the next hour, a death row inmate in Texas will make a plea to stop his execution. He's set to die in two days. Robert Roberson was condemned for the death of his two-year-old daughter more than 20 years ago, but his attorneys say a diagnosis at the time, a shaken baby syndrome was wrong and now they are urging the court to intervene.

The detective who put Roberson behind bars and a bipartisan group of Texas state lawmakers are also supporting him. And one of those lawmakers, Lacey Hull, joins me now. Representative, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

Why did you decide to lend your support to the case? And what is it about this case that stands out to you as to why they should stop this execution?

[10:30:00]

STATE REP. LACEY HULL (R-TX): Thank you for having me. Yes, this was a pretty clear case where Robert Roberson did not have due process, a fundamental right.