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Trump to Speak After Inflammatory NYC Rally; Hundreds of Ballots Destroyed in Oregon and Washington; Steve Bannon Out from Federal Prison; One-Third of Washington Post's Editorial Board Steps Down. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 29, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

TIM NAFTALI, SENIOR RESEARCH SCHOLAR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: But there is a moral consequence to that because you open the door to others to not only use that language, but to act on it. So, Shermichael, yes, there is a -- consultants have a challenge, but I think the Republican Party has a challenge. You don't want that rhetoric to be actually at the heart of its message.

And Trump not walking it back is significant because a lot of people in that party listen to him and follow him.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. Yes. And I appreciate, Shermichael, you know, sitting here and letting us pepper him with these questions, because I know Shermichael does not agree with that kind of language, and he's made that very clear on this program many times. Shermichael Lulu, Tim, please stand by. Wait -- watching and waiting for Former President Donald Trump to speak. He's apparently going to address Kamala Harris' upcoming speech on the national mall, at the Ellipse. And, perhaps address what took place at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

ACOSTA: This morning we're getting new details about the series of ballot box fires in and around Portland, Oregon. Police say they've identified a suspect vehicle seen here. You can see right there, leaving the scene of Monday's fire. They believe it's linked to two fires in nearby Vancouver, Washington. One of those destroyed hundreds of ballots.

Joining me now is Nevada Secretary of State, Democrat Francisco Aguilar. Mr. Aguilar, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it. I suppose you're on the lookout for this, too. What's your message in case something like these spreads to your state?

FRANCISCO AGUILAR (D), NEVADA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, fortunately, we don't want this to occur in any state, but understanding that we have to be prepared for any situation. If it does occur in Nevada, we do have safeguards built in. Every mail ballot has an individual tracker barcode on it. We asked voters if this situation would occur to check their voter status, and if their ballot is not being processed to work -- reach out to the local county.

ACOSTA: Yes. So, it sounds like you're preparing for this possibility. And obviously, you know, you and I think have had this kind of discussion before. There are election officials all across the country who are, I guess, gearing up for what may be a very chaotic, not just election night counting ballots, but maybe an election week of counting ballots. How is your state preparing?

AGUILAR: You know, we've been preparing for this election for the last 18 months. Capacity has been a priority of mine. You know, in Nevada, we are processing ballots now so that we can keep up. We love the enthusiasm in Nevada voters. We love that the turnout is strong, but we have a responsibility as election administrators to ensure we get voters the information they need as close to election night as possible.

ACOSTA: And early voting is underway. There's been a lot of discussion about percentages of these voters and that voters turning up. Do you have any data or metrics you can share? And does any of it stand out to you as being particularly noteworthy or is this another election in Nevada where there's just a lot of interest?

AGUILAR: One, I think Nevada being a battleground state, being the purple state that we are, I think there's just a lot of interest. And I think previous models that existed you can't rely on, and we just have to continue to ensure we get voters out there and that we get them voting. The more that vote early, I think the better off it is for our local clerks to be able to keep up with the processing, to keep up with the demand.

ACOSTA: And do you expect you're going to be up very late on election night counting these ballots? Do you think it will happen pretty quickly? What's your sense of it right now?

AGUILAR: Well, we've -- you know, during the Nevada primary in June, we tested a new process to be able to get results out to voters about the election. We hope that process works on election night, understanding that the turnout is significantly different this November. But we are hoping that process and the system we built is going to work the way we intended to work. We know we'll be able to get out early mail ballots, early mail in person and then a second wave with in-person on Election Day.

ACOSTA: And I do want to get your reaction to a ruling by the Nevada State Supreme Court. They upheld the state's post-election deadline for mail ballots lacking a postmark. I guess that pushes back on a challenge from Republicans. I hope I'm describing that accurately. If I'm not, please clarify it. But what's your reaction to that?

AGUILAR: Look, we were super excited that Nevada Supreme Court gave us a ruling because it helped us clear that issue off the table and allows us to focus on future issues. Anytime you talk about access to the ballot box or giving somebody the opportunity to exercise their fundamental right, I'm glad the Nevada Supreme Court recognized that if a ballot mark doesn't exist on a ballot, that it still gets counted. That voter made an effort to have their voice heard, and we need to ensure it's counted. It's not the voter's fault that it didn't get a postmark, that's on the United States Postal Service. And so, to ensure that we are hearing from every Nevada, we have to ensure that we are counting those ballots and that we are counting those votes.

ACOSTA: And yesterday I was speaking with an election worker in Pennsylvania who has been subjected to threats, and they've had to fortify their, you know, election ballot counting operation and so on, just in case there are threats to them on election night. What is your message to the citizens of Nevada about the hardworking men and women who just are there to do a job and make sure the votes are counted?

AGUILAR: Absolutely. Look, you know, Nevada runs some of the most safest, secure, and accessible elections in the country, but that doesn't come without the hard work of our 17 clerks across the state. Early on in the last legislative session, we passed the election protector bill, which made it a felony to harass or intimidate election workers.

[10:40:00]

That bill has really brought about the calm that we need in our polling locations and for our election workers. Yes, there are some issues, but they're not the same level what occurred in 2020. And I'm proud to say that Nevadans are respecting the work that our poll workers do.

Our poll workers are the unsung heroes of our democracy. They give us the opportunity to have a voice and to exercise our constitutional right.

ACOSTA: All right. Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, thank you very much for your time. Good luck, sir.

AGUILAR: No problem. Thank you. Have a great day.

ACOSTA: All right. You too. And as we mentioned earlier, we are watching and waiting for Former President Donald Trump to speak there. He's going to be there in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach in just a few moments. We'll bring that to you live when it happens. Be right back after a short break.

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[10:45:00]

ACOSTA: All right. Trump allies Steve Bannon is now out of prison. The former Trump aide and podcast host spent four months locked up for refusing to comply with a subpoena for the January 6th Committee. And now, exactly a week before Election Day, Bannon says he will get back to revving up the MAGA base. CNN's Sara Murray joins me now. Sara, walk us through the details of Bannon's release and what this means in this final week.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, he got out early this morning. He's wasting no time. He's already back to hosting his podcast. And I talked to folks who track this kind of metrics who say the audience actually suffered while Steve Bannon was in prison. There was a big drop off from the podcast charts for "War Room" and it started to tick up a little bit in anticipation of his return today.

He's also set to do a press conference later this afternoon. And as you point out, he's really trying to rev up the Trump base in this week that he has of freedom before Election Day. But also, there's already a lot of concern about how he's going to use his incendiary rhetoric, his claims of, you know, election denialism, that there is election stealing going on, like we saw in 2020, how he may use that if it looks like Trump is coming up short on Election Day, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, he was doing this in the run up to January 6th as we all know. And, Sara, what is Steve Bannon saying this morning?

MURRAY: Well, the rhetoric is kind of what you would expect. He wants people focused on Election Day, but he's already warning about the consequences after people cast their ballot. Take a listen to a little bit of Steve Bannon's return to "War Room," his podcast, this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, PODCAST HOST AND FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: We have two things we're going to talk about today, the get out the vote effort, focused on our first phase, which is November 5th. Then the second is to make sure that they cannot steal the election, which goes from November 5th all the way to inauguration day, but January 6th being a key part of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: And in the months since he's been behind bars, the fill in hosts have been referring to this as ballot warfare. So, I think this kind of gives you an idea of the vibe of "War Room" as we're going into Election Day, and as they're sort of revving up the audience for potential challenges beyond that, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Sara Murray, a very important update on a key ally of Former President Donald Trump. Thanks so much.

And as we were saying earlier -- a little while ago, we are watching and waiting for Former President Donald Trump to speak. He was scheduled to speak at 10:00 this morning. So, he's about 47 minutes late so far. There is the proverbial empty podium shot that we're showing you there from Mar-a-Lago. We are going to bring that to you live when it happens. But that's going to happen we think after a short break. Be right back.

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[10:50:00]

ACOSTA: Pretty stunning development. This morning, one-third of The Washington Post editorial board has stepped down. It's a protest of owner Jeff Bezos' decision to block the paper from endorsing a presidential candidate. Vice President Kamala Harris has now weighed in and here's what she said on a radio show earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: It's disappointing, no doubt. But the other piece of it is, it gets back to my point about who is Donald Trump. It's billionaires in Donald Trump's club. That's who's in his club.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN's Hadas Gold joins us now. Hadas, this is a major development over at The Washington Post, it sent shockwaves through the Newsroom, I know you've been reporting on this. And now, Jeff Bezos is defending that decision, he put out an editorial himself last night, what's he saying?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these are the first public comments we're hearing from Jeff Bezos after this surprising news last week that The Washington Post would not endorse, not only not endorse, but they had prepped an endorsement of the vice president that was then quashed by Jeff Bezos. And for the first time, he's coming out now in his own op-ed that was published in The Washington Post.

He says, essentially, the mainstream media has lost a lot of trust by the general public. They perceive it as biased. And so, ending this practice of endorsements will help build back up that trust. He said, in part, what presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias, a perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one.

He did also talk about how the timing was unfortunate. He says it was inadequate planning, that he wished he had made it earlier, because that's a lot of the issues that I hear from Washington Post staffers, actually quite a few of them say, I actually like the idea of the editorial board not endorsing anybody because it makes our jobs harder. The issue is that this came -- this exploded like a bomb in the newsroom just days before the election.

I should also note that The Washington Post has been admirably covering itself, including in some more funny ways with The Washington Post self-described TikTok guy, Dave Jorgenson, gave it his treat and take a look to what he did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE JORGENSON, SENIOR VIDEO REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Don't publish it.

Why not?

So, as you may know, I'm a billionaire.

Yes.

And many of us billionaires own multiple companies.

Yes, we know. You own The Washington Post.

And Blue Origin, which happens to have billions of dollars in cloud computing contracts with the federal government.

So, you're worried about retribution if Trump wins.

I didn't say that. But many experts have pointed to that. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: Yes. So, as you can see, there's been a lot of questions about why now Jeff Bezos has said in his op-ed that there was no quid pro quo and that he did this because he thinks it's the right thing to do. Jim.

ACOSTA: Wow. Good for Dave. I mean, that's a very well done video there. And, Hadas, I mean, you reported that Washington Post staffers asked a top editor about a meeting between Trump executives from -- and I should -- between Trump and executives from Blue Origin. What more do you know about that?

[10:55:00]

GOLD: Yes. So, there was a very lengthy and slightly contentious meeting yesterday, just for the opinion section led by David Shipley, who's the editor there. What was interesting, actually, is he talked about how Jeff Bezos expressed doubt about endorsements all the way back in September, but David Shipley had tried to convince him up until last week, and he literally told the staff, I failed in trying to convince him they should continue endorsing.

And staff did ask about that meeting, because on Friday, Former President Donald Trump met with executives from Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company, the same day. The Washington Post announced that it would not be endorsing.

Now, Jeff Bezos has denied that he even knew that this was going to happen and he has said again that there is no quid pro quo, but I think the concern from a lot of people is not so much that, you know, Jeff Bezos got on the phone and said, I'll give you a non-endorsement if you give me this, it's the idea of self-censoring before Donald Trump potentially becomes president once again.

ACOSTA: Yes. And we should note, Hadas, I mean, you know this, there are newspapers all across the country that do endorsements. The New York Post endorsed Donald Trump. I mean, so -- I mean, this is something that's been going on for a long time in this country.

GOLD: And The Washington Post has endorsed in other races. I should keep that clear. In state level races. That's why this stands out.

ACOSTA: Fascinating. And right before the election, as you pointed out. All right. Hadas Gold. Thank you very much.

We're watching and waiting for Former President Donald Trump to speak. We'll bring that live to you when it happens, coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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