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Judge Extends On-Demand Mail Voting in Buck County; Harris and Trump Difference Closing Messages; Dodgers Wins World Series. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 31, 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]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- popular vote, they investigated -- there was not there was nothing behind that. Yes.

BEN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION ATTORNEY: Well, a number of states have actually investigated that issue, gone looking for noncitizens on the voter rolls. And there is like no evidence that that is true in any sort of a large-scale basis or even a small-scale basis.

ACOSTA: Yes.

GINSBERG: So, what you've got, what people need to remember is that the allegations are going to be made. But once again, you have to have the evidence. And the evidence so far is not there in the least.

ACOSTA: Yes, evidence, facts, the truth, that's all key. Yes, I mean, just a little bit. All right. Ben Ginsberg, thanks a lot. Good to talk to you as always. We appreciate it.

GINSBERG: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up a win for the Trump campaign as voters of one Pennsylvania County of extra time to cast their mail-in ballot. We'll talk to the state's Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis. He joins me next to talk about this. That's coming up.

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[10:35:00]

ACOSTA: Voters in Bucks County, Pennsylvania have until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow to cast their mail-in ballot in the election after a judge cited with the Trump campaign and extended the on-demand mail-in ballot period for the county. In a lawsuit, the campaign argued voters were being turned away too early at election bureau offices were on- demand mail-in ballots could be requested and turned in.

Let's discuss this now with Pennsylvania's Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis. Lieutenant Governor Davis, thank you so much for being with us. I guess can we get your reaction to these allegations that are being made and what is going on? I mean, what's your sense of it?

LT. GOV. AUSTIN DAVIS (D-PA): Well, Jim, thank you so much for having me. It's great to be with you. This morning. Look, the governor and I firmly believe that everyone -- our democracy works better when everyone has the opportunity to participate and everyone has the opportunity for their voices to be heard. And so, we're seeing that play out in Bucks County, but all across Pennsylvania as well.

ACOSTA: And so, what's going to happen in Bucks County is that they're going to be able to put in these mail-in ballots? Is that the situation?

DAVIS: Yes, the judge extended the time for folks to be able to have their ballots submitted to the County Board of Elections. We know that oftentimes there's always a surge as you get closer to Election Day, as people kind of have had their ballots for a while and are filling them out and getting them in. And so, that's what they're going to continue to make sure that those folks in Bucks County, their voices are able to be heard in this election.

ACOSTA: And, Lieutenant Governor Davis, I mean, as you know, Trump is trying to seize on all of these different things to allege that there's already fraud taking place in Pennsylvania and so on. I mean, he did this in the days leading up to the 2020 election. He was starting to lay the groundwork for making these kinds of claims after the election is over. And he's doing it now. And Governor Shapiro tweeted this, Trump is trying to stoke chaos in the state. But quote, "We will again have a free and fair, safe and secure election and the will of the people will be respected."

Are you concerned -- what are your concerns about Trump stoking some of this?

DAVIS: Well, you know, it has been clear for a long time, and we have seen it ramp up as we've gotten closer to Election Day, that Donald Trump continually seeks to undermine our democracy by sowing chaos in the voting process. And I would suspect that folks are going to continue to see that as we get closer to Election Day and even past Election Day if he doesn't win.

You know, he doesn't believe a fair election is any election that he loses. And the reality is there are dedicated professionals here in Pennsylvania who are working hard to administer our elections. I am confident that we are going to have a free and fair election here in Pennsylvania as we did in 2020. And so, I think folks should not focus on the noise that comes out of Donald Trump, but just focus on getting out to vote and making sure that their voices are heard in this election.

ACOSTA: And earlier on in this program, we were playing some sound from the former president out on the campaign trail saying that he's going to be the protector of women, whether the women like it or not. I'm just wondering if you have a response to that. Obviously, women voters is going to be key in Pennsylvania here in the final stretch.

DAVIS: I mean, beyond that statement just being downright creepy, the fact is that Donald Trump is the president that appointed the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade. The reality is Donald Trump has a long history of doing the opposite of protecting women. He has had a number of allegations and a long history of, quite frankly, demonizing women. And it is just his ploy to try to win more votes. He recognizes that women are going to be a deciding factor in this election.

And I believe the contrast between him and Kamala Harris could not be clearer. Kamala Harris has a career of standing up for freedom, for reproductive rights, for maternal health. And she will make history as our president, but women can count on her to continue to defend their basic fundamental rights and freedoms. Donald Trump can't do that and hasn't done that.

ACOSTA: Is this race as tight as it looks in the polls?

DAVIS: Look, I've been crisscross in Pennsylvania all week, and I can tell you this race is close. I think the most important thing is for folks to continue to organize and mobilize voters to get them to the polls.

[10:40:00]

We know the race in 2020 in Pennsylvania came down the last, the less than a percentage point. I suspect that this presidential election will be equally as close. So, every vote counts. Every vote matters. And I'm encouraging everybody in my home State of Pennsylvania to make sure that they make a plan to vote on or before Election Day. Than if they're -- they have a vote by mail ballot, make sure they get it to the County Board of Elections because this is going to be close in the fate of this election rides on what we do here in Pennsylvania.

ACOSTA: All right. Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis of Pennsylvania, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

DAVIS: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, two very different closing messages from Former President Trump and Vice President Harris. A look at the impact of those messages. That's next.

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[10:45:00]

ACOSTA: With five days left until Election Day, Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are delivering starkly different closing messages to voters. Trump, of course, stoking anti- migrant fear and trying to exploit President Biden's garbage gaffe, which happened more than 24 hours ago. He's also saying he will protect whether women, whether they like it or not. Harris is trying to convince America and she can unite the country, but saying Trump is unstable and obsessed with revenge.

And presidential historian, Tim Naftali joins us now. Tim, I guess your thoughts on these closing messages from both candidates.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, Jim, Kamala Harris has a political headwind she has to deal with. Historically, when presidents in their first term have less than a 40 percent approval rating, they lose and anybody from the same party is apt to do poorly in the next election.

And so, from the start, she has faced the challenge of creating a movement for herself while she's linked to an unpopular presidency. We can have a debate later as to why the Biden presidency is unpopular, but the reality is it is.

And so, her campaign has made a -- has taken a risk that focusing on her and focusing on Trump and the dangers he -- a second term of Trump would represent is a better bet than trying to take more time to distinguish herself from Biden, to create some space between her and Biden.

And her final statement at the Ellipse did include promises about the future, but was mainly a promise for stability and for normalcy, if I can use that term, and contrasting that to Donald Trump, and trying to remind people of the chaos associated with Donald Trump, which is why she was standing at the Ellipse. She was trying to remind people, Donald Trump equals January 6th.

On Donald Trump's side, Trump -- any other Republican candidate, I think, would have a much easier time in this election than Trump. Trump is very high unfavourability ratings for someone who's doing as well as he is currently in the polls.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NAFTALI: His campaign has actually tried to get him to focus on policies, believe it or not. If you listened -- if people listened to the beginning of his Madison Square Garden speech, it was full of promises that are really interesting. I think economists would have trouble with them. I'm not sure how we'd paid for them, but excusing car loans, you know, interest rates on car loans, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. These were actually programmatic promises, I'm not sure how we would pay for them, but they were promises that were really directed at -- they were directed at people saying, look, a new Trump administration would do things for you.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NAFTALI: Those of you who don't have college education. The thing about Trump is he couldn't focus on that. He couldn't focus on that. Instead, he went back to what worked for him in 2016 and he thinks can work for him again, which is to hammer the immigration issue.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NAFTALI: So, I think that the good team wanted a different kind of campaign, but couldn't. Couldn't do it.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Tim, Governor Whitman was making this comment earlier on in the program that, you know, one gaffe from President Biden seems to suck up the oxygen more than Donald Trump saying people are the enemy from within more than, I guess, even what he said last night, although that seems to be gaining some momentum that he said last night that he's going to be the protector of women, whether the women like it or not. What do you make of that? Do you agree with that?

NAFTALI: Well, you know, politics are unfair. Well, politics are unfair. But I think also the power of a gaffe depends on who says it. When Mitt Romney made the gaffe regarding most Americans, yes, he had been poorly understood by the American people and the Obama campaign was framing him as an out of touch plutocrat, that really worked. And so -- and it hurt him tremendously.

When Donald Trump makes a gaffe, which may not be a gaffe, or someone associated with him speaks poorly about Puerto Ricans, it's believable because of the fact that so many people in his coalition are unhappy with the number of people of color who happen to be in this country at this point.

[10:50:00]

Whether Joe Biden's gaffe actually moves the needle, given that he has a reputation for trying to bring the country together, I mean, his entire term has been that effort, and it strikes me as probably a bit of an exaggeration that one statement by him is going to move independents to believe that he was -- he is something that he is.

ACOSTA: Yes. All right. Tim Naftali, thanks as always. Great to talk to you. Appreciate it. Wish we had more time, but thank you so much.

NAFTALI: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, talk about a Hollywood ending for the team from Los Angeles, the Dodgers win their eighth World Series title with a historic comeback. We'll talk about that next.

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ACOSTA: The L.A. Dodgers are champions once again, rallying to beat the New York Yankees in a thriller to clinch the World Series. CNN's Andy Scholes joins us now. Andy, I mean, Freddie Freeman, what an amazing performance throughout this World Series. Just incredible.

[10:55:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: All-time great performance, Jim. I mean, it was just incredible night after night. And you know -- but you know, last night it looked like this series was going to keep going, right? The Yankees were rolling. It looked like we were going back to L.A. for a Game 6. But then, the Yankees, they just had an epic meltdown in the 5th inning. But things started off great in New York. Aaron Judge hitting his first ever World Series home run in the 1st inning. Then Jazz Chisholm came to the plate. He connected for back-to-back home runs. Yankee Stadium was just rocking. They were up 3-0 right away. Then they were up five-nothing in the fifth. That's when things fell apart.

Judge dropping this fly ball in center field. Then Anthony Volpe makes a throwing error on this ground here. Then Garritt Cole didn't cover first on this ground or the Dodgers ended up getting five unearned runs in that inning to tie the game up. Then in the eighth, it would be tied at six. Mookie Bets comes into play, it's a sacrifice fly. Tommy Edman scored to give L.A. the lead. Then starter Walker Buehler came out of the bullpen in the ninth. He closed it out. Dodgers win 7-6 to take the World Series in five games. Freddie Freeman, who hit four home runs tied a World Series record with 12 RBIs. He was your MVP.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDDIE FREEMAN, 2024 WORLD SERIES MVP: This is everything. I'm telling you, I wouldn't be here without the support of everybody in these shirts tonight. It's been a grind these last three months, but this organization, Stan, Andrew, Brandon, Doc, my teammates, my family. It's been a lot and this is it right here. Not this. That one, that one. That's what it's about. That's what it's about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. So, this is the Dodgers eighth World Series title in team history. They went in the first season after they signed Shohei Ohtani to that record 10-year $700 million deal. Party on in the clubhouse. It was also on in L.A. Fans taken to the streets of downtown to celebrate. Some fans though, Jim, we're up to no good. A city bus was lit on fire. There were also reports of looting. LAPD tweeted for fans not to go to downtown and to celebrate responsibly. They will have a parade Friday morning in downtown L.A. to celebrate and a ticketed celebration at Dodger Stadium.

And you know, Jim, L.A. fans have been pretty salty over the past few years because, you know, they won the NBA title with the Lakers in 2020. They won the World Series of the Dodgers in 2020. Got no parades because of COVID. So, I expect massive crowds in L.A. on Friday for this one.

ACOSTA: Yes, Freddie Freeman's not going to have to buy his own drinks for some time now. That was an incredible performance. Andy Scholes, thanks a lot. We'll be right back.

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