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Vance On Whether Trump Lost 2020 Election: No; "Fake Electors" Return For 2024 Presidential Election; Rep. Wylie Nickel (D-NC) On North Carolina Early Voting Beginning Today. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 17, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 5:29 a.m. on the East Coast. A beautiful look at the West Coast in Seattle, Washington this morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

After previously sidestepping questions on the issue, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance now decisively answering whether or not he believes that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did Donald Trump lose in 2020?

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've answered this question directly a million times -- no. I think there were serious problems in 2020. So did Donald Trump lose the election, not by the words that I would use.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I don't know that he has answered that question a million times. That was the direct answer to the question after being asked multiple times.

And, of course, we do need to underscore Donald Trump did lose the 2020 election. Joe Biden won 306 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency. But according to J.D. Vance it's a matter of opinion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: I think that big techs rigged the election in 2020. That's my view. And if you disagree with me that's fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: These kind of falsehoods are ultimately what led to a violent mob storming the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Despite the fact that multiple people died as a result of the insurrection on Capitol Hill, Donald Trump maintains it was a day about love.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You had hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington. They didn't come because of me; they came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election. But that was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions.

I spoke and I used the term "peacefully and patriotically." But they couldn't get me because of the fact that I said everything's got to be peaceful and patriotic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining us now, Boston Globe bureau chief and CNN political analyst Jackie Kucinich. Jackie, good morning. Wonderful to see you.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE: Good morning.

HUNT: So why are we talking about all of this right now because we are 20 -- less than 20 days away from another election where Donald Trump has already consistently raised questions about the integrity of voting? There are a lot of questions about what would happen in the event that Harris, especially if she narrowly wins on November 5 -- how Trump and J.D. Vance would handle it.

Vance finally seemed to come out and say -- give the answer that is the only acceptable one for his audience of one --

KUCINICH: Yes.

HUNT: -- in Donald Trump, but it took him a while to get there.

What -- why do you think he's saying this now, and what are the implications for the next -- the next few months?

KUCINICH: You know, even before January 6 there were a group of people that were on the frontlines of this misinformation, and that's poll workers and election workers who endured quite a bit of harassment, of intimidation in the days -- on Election Day and the days after that as they were counting these ballots in places like Georgia and in places like Arizona.

And now -- which is why you have election officials in red and blue states going around and trying to be as transparent as possible to the process. And they're already potentially being undermined by the top of the Republican ticket because, as you rightly said, of the audience of one. Because former President Trump would not and sounds like he is already -- he's been planting the seeds this entire time that if he doesn't win -- well, it's obviously because it was rigged.

HUNT: Well, and he's created a whole -- you know, a universe where his supporters don't believe anything that anyone other than Donald Trump says --

KUCINICH: Yeah.

HUNT: -- about this, which again raises enormous questions for the stakes of November 5.

KUCINICH: And J.D. Vance has been asked that question. He said he has been asked it a million times. Well, he has never answered it. He's kind of talked around it, and this is the clearest. But even then it was kind of lawyerly how he said it -- the words that I say or however he put it. It wasn't exactly -- I mean, he could -- you could potentially see him trying to break a lot of that down the line if it doesn't serve him politically.

HUNT: Yeah. I mean, the challenge is that he did clearly say no --

KUCINICH: Yes, I agree with you.

HUNT: -- that Donald Trump did not. But you're right. He tacked on kind of that way of explaining around it.

Let's talk a little bit more about what we heard from Donald Trump yesterday. In a Fox News town hall he talked about in vitro fertilization, which is something that's been obviously a focus on the campaign trail in the wake of the Dobbs decision that ended Roe versus Wade and in many states jeopardized these treatments.

Let's watch what Donald Trump had to say about himself and IVF.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to talk about IVF. I'm the father --

HARRIS FAULKNER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You don't hear that every day.

TRUMP: I'm the father of IVF. I'm the father of IVF.

I got a call from Katie Britt, a young -- just a fantastically attractive person from Alabama. She's a senator. And she called me up, like emergency, emergency because an Alabama judge had ruled that the IVF clinics were illegal and they have to be closed down.

We really are the party for IVF. We want fertilization and it's all the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So aside from talking about a woman senator as just a fantastically attractive person, her job credentials aside, he called himself the father of IVF. Now his campaign says it was a joke now, but it is -- it's telling that this is where he feels like he needs to be politically on this issue. But is it credible?

[05:35:00]

KUCINICH: I mean, the fact that -- the father of IVF usually doesn't have to call Katie Britt to explain to him what exactly it is. But listen, they are in -- the Alabama court was able to do that

because Roe v. Wade was struck down by justices that were appointed by former President Trump, full stop. That is why that was able to happen.

And when it did happen you had Republicans in here -- I mean, we saw the press releases that went out from the NRSC being like ah, this is a bridge too far. We don't want this because it was -- it's such a mainstream and -- treatment for women who want to get pregnant.

So, truly, they've been trying to dig themselves out of this hole for quite some time and I don't know that saying that in front of a friendly audience of Fox News viewers is really going to be the trick.

HUNT: Yeah, and we did learn, of course, that audience was, in fact, mostly Trump supporters.

It was actually interesting to me. I had Ralph Reed on the show yesterday of the Faith & Family -- Faith & Freedom Coalition, and he actually said their group is in favor of in vitro fertilization. I was -- I was interested to hear --

KUCINICH: That's interesting.

HUNT: -- the way that he would talk about that. And if you had told me back in 2014 that group was going to be supporting Donald Trump and -- you know, on talking about how they supported in vitro fertilization the way that he did I would have told you I thought you were living on a different planet. But, you know, here we are.

KUCINICH: I mean, that could be a madlibs I think at this point. If I have this group who is supporting Donald Trump.

HUNT: So here we are.

KUCINICH: Here we are.

HUNT: Jackie Kucinich for us this morning. Jackie, thank you.

KUCINICH: Thanks.

HUNT: I appreciate it.

All right. After the 2020 election fake electors gathered in seven mainly swing states signing certificates to subvert the Electoral College and falsely declare Trump the winner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had electors. That is six votes certified for President Donald J. Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So this was a fake ceremony in Nevada and it resulted in the indictment of six Republicans. The charges were later tossed out by a judge because they weren't filed in the proper jurisdiction.

But new this morning, CNN has learned that more than a dozen of those same fake electors who participated in the scheme serve as official electors for Trump in this election, including several who are currently facing criminal charges.

CNN's Marshall Cohen joins us live from Washington with more on this. Marshall, this is new reporting from you. Obviously, critical here as we start to look toward potential issues with the certification process if, in fact, the -- especially the Republican ticket, Trump and Vance, challenge results of the election that they may or may not like.

What have you learned here?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER (via Webex by Cisco): Well, we've learned Kasie that election denialism is alive and well in the Republican Party.

So remember, these are the Republicans who back in 2020 signed those phony certificates -- you just saw the clip from Nevada -- those certificates that Donald Trump tried to use on January 6 to overturn the results. So this is no little thing. And in several key battleground states the Republican Party has brought these people back into the process and selected some of them to serve as official electors this year.

Look at this map, Kasie, state-by-state here. In Michigan, six of the 15 electors for this year are fake electors from 2020 and facing criminal charges. In Pennsylvania, five of the 19 for this year were fake electors. In Nevada, two of them were fake electors. And New Mexico -- not really a battleground state but Trump tried to overturn the results there anyway. One of their five electors this year were fake electors in 2020.

This matters, as you mentioned, Kasie, because the Electoral College process is how we transfer power in this country from one administration to the next. And if these people were willing to subvert that process four years ago the fear is that they might be willing to do it again if Donald Trump loses.

HUNT: And Marshall, you also walked through some of the false claims that these electors have made about the 2020 election. What have they said about that, and why do you think it matters now?

COHEN: Well, Kasie, it's not just the fake electors that have been incorporated into the Electoral College process. In addition to that dozen-plus group of electors for 2024, our team found another dozen Republican electors for this year who weren't electors four years ago, but they are serving this year, and they are hardcore election deniers. Again, not necessarily a type of people you want to entrust with the transition of power.

Look at these quotes, Kasie. We read their social media posts. We've watched all their interviews. One of them -- these are, of course, false claims. One of them said

that 2020 was "filled with cheating." Another claims that "China rigged the results." Another one said on January 6 "rage on, patriots." And yet, another one of the electors for this year referred to President Biden as the "acting president."

[05:40:13]

So not the type of people that you would want to bring into the official transfer of power process but, yet that is what the Republican Party has done here in several of the critical swing states.

HUNT: All right, Marshall Cohen for us with this new reporting. Marshall, thank you. I really appreciate you being here.

All right. Early voting begins today in North Carolina, a state still dealing with the destructive aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Congressman Wiley Nickel will join us live with the latest on recovery efforts.

Plus, the Dodgers silencing the Mets with their fourth shutout of the postseason, diminishing hopes for a subway series.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:45:25

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROY COOPER, (D) NORTH CAROLINA: If you're participating and spreading this stuff, stop it. Whatever your aim is, the people you are really hurting are those in western North Carolina who need help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper warning that misinformation continues to affect Hurricane Helene relief efforts. Nearly three weeks after the storm's deadly landfall parts of North Carolina still remain without power and other basic essentials as the battleground state begins early in-person voting today.

And as the Trump team bus tour makes it way across the Tar Heel State, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance saying this about misinformation in this election cycle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you concerned about election misinformation and the impact it would have on this cycle and turnout?

VANCE: Yes, I am worried about it. In fact, I talked to people every now and then who will come up to me and say well, you know, there are too many problems out there. We don't trust the people who are running counterbalance and -- you know, so I'm not going to get out there and vote. That's the exact opposite attitude you should be taking. If you are worried about what's going on in this country get out there and vote. If you're a local voter in a place like Williamsport (PH) the people who are counting your ballots are often your neighbors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Joining us now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Wylie Nickel of North Carolina. Congressman, thanks very much for being with us this morning.

REP. WYLIE NICKEL (D-NC) (via Webex by Cisco): Hey, good morning, Kasie. It's great to be with you.

HUNT: Let's start with the recovery process from Hurricane Helene because, quite frankly, there are still a lot of people who need a lot of help. And they also potentially have the chance to vote early starting today and are likely not in a position to be able to do that.

Do you think the Biden administration needs to be doing more to help people there? And how do you think it's going to impact the election?

NICKEL: You know, I see the Biden administration with all hands on deck addressing the needs of western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. This isn't a partisan issue. You've got folks at the state, local, and federal level doing literally everything we can. The National Guard is deployed. We've got a lot of work left to do, for sure, but there's nothing partisan about the response. It's been overwhelming and we are doing everything we can.

Power is mainly restored right now but there's a ton of work on roads that needs to happen, but that doesn't happen overnight.

So I'm very encouraged by what I'm seeing but Congress needs to act. We need to do much more. As you may have reported, the SBA disaster assistance fund has been depleted. Congress needs to get back to work and replenish those funds and make sure FEMA has the funds available if there's another hurricane that comes along before the -- before the end of this election.

HUNT: Congressman, let's talk -- let's talk about early voting and how this might be affected here. Are you concerned about residents in this region being able to get to the polls? And how do you think -- I mean, do you think in an incredibly close election it could make a significant difference? What should officials be doing now on this front?

NICKEL: Well, you know, what I've -- what I've heard from the Board of Elections is they've identified other places for folks to vote. They've got pretty much all of -- almost all -- I think there's a few locations that were supposed to be open that aren't, but you're talking about the vast majority of voting locations in western North Carolina that are open and available. They're expanding access to voting. They're literally doing everything they can to make sure folks have the opportunity to make their vote -- voice heard. And as you said, today is a big day in North Carolina. It's the first day that in-person, early voting is available, so I think we're going to see some really significant numbers. And I think folks in western North Carolina are tough. They understand that this is a big issue and they're going to do everything they can to get out there and make their voice heard.

HUNT: Congressman, Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee and obviously the sitting vice president, sat for an interview with Fox News yesterday. Was interviewed by Bret Baier.

She had previously been asked in earlier interview on "THE VIEW" and Stephen Colbert how she was different from President Joe Biden who, of course, has been unpopular. Who many people, Baier pointed to in the interview last night, say that America is on the wrong track.

I want to show you how she answered the question last night about how she's different from President Biden, and then I'll ask you about it. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: So you're not Joe Biden, you're not Donald Trump, but nothing comes to mind that you would do differently?

[05:50:00]

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me be very clear. My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency. And like every new president that comes into office I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas. I represent a new generation of leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Is that answer good enough for you, and do you think it's going to be good enough for voters in North Carolina?

NICKEL: I think -- I think number one, Vice President Harris is going to be a very different president than Joe Biden.

And number two -- and I -- and I want to get into specific details about what that means and the stuff that I've been working on with her campaign that I can point to. But before I do that I just -- that interview with Bret Baier was hard to watch. I've interviewed with him before and found him a fair interviewer.

But he just continued to talk over her. I thought it was incredibly disrespectful. I really didn't appreciate the way he approached that interview. He just wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise over and over and over. So that part I thought was really out of step with Bret -- for Bret Baier. He was just trying to get some answer that wasn't coming there.

But I can tell -- you know, my work. I got elected to Congress in a Republican district. I'm working hard to try to bring our country and our Congress together. It's been a tough uphill battle. We're probably on track to be the least productive Congress in our nation's history once we finish at the end of the year. Gerrymandering has a lot to do with that.

But what I've done in terms of the -- we've done must-pass bills in the U.S. House of Representatives. The one thing that wasn't a must- pass bill was our first-ever vote on crypto, the Digital Asset Market Structure bill. We've been working with the Harris campaign on that.

HUNT: Yeah.

NICKEL: I lead an effort to get 71 Democrats to join with my Republican colleagues.

That's an area where we engaged with her team right away and you see a very clear split on digital assets and the future of Web3 from the current regulation by enforcement approach of Joe Biden with --

HUNT: You're right.

NICKEL: -- Vice President Harris' very specific policy proposals. That's one area where I think she's charted a very different and very moderate course.

HUNT: All right, Democratic Congressman Wiley Nickel for us this morning. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

NICKEL: It's great to see you. Great to be with you.

HUNT: All right. And we will be joined in our next hour by Republican North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards.

All right, time now though for sports. The New York Liberty now one win away from their first-ever WNBA title after a shot from the ages from one of their stars.

Andy Scholes has this morning's Bleacher Report. Andy, good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, good morning, Kasie.

So, I mean, this was an all-time WNBA moment we had last night. Sabrina Ionescu coming up in the clutch to move the Liberty to a win away from their first-ever WNBA title.

And New York -- they were down by as many as 15 in this game but they came all the way back. With the game tied in the closing seconds, Sabrina makes the move and pulls up from way downtown. The 28-footer putting the Liberty up three with a second left. The Lynx would then not get off a great shot.

New York wins the thriller 80-77. Breanna Stewart led the way with 30 points and 11 rebounds.

But afterwards, Sabrina called it the biggest shot of her career.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SABRINA IONESCU, GUARD, NEW YORK LIBERTY: I just didn't really realize how far I was. But like I said, it's a shot that I take often. I take in practice. I take before the game. Like, it's not like a Hail Mary hope this goes in. It was like once I got it off, I was like yeah, this is in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, we also had game three between the Mets and the Dodgers last night. L.A. pitching staff just continues to dominate this postseason. Walker Buehler -- he started and pitched four innings of shutout baseball, and then the bullpen just took over. The Dodgers' staff has now thrown a shutout in four of their last five games.

And as for the offense, L.A. getting three home runs in this one, including Shohei Ohtani hitting just a majestic shot in the eighth inning.

The Dodgers would win 8-0 to take a 2-1 lead in that series.

Game four of the NLCS will be tonight. That's after game three of the ALCS. The Yankees trying to take a commanding 3-0 lead over the Guardians. You can watch that one on TBS and stream it on Max. The first pitch just after 5:00 Eastern.

All right, in hockey last night, Penguins star Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had a milestone night together. Malkin becoming the 48th player in league history to get to 500 goals. Crosby, meanwhile, getting to 1,600 career points in this one. He's just the tenth player to ever do that. Just an incredible run of nearly two decades together for Crosby and Malkin.

The Penguins beat the Sabres in overtime in that one 6-5.

Finally, Davante Adams rocking Jets gear for the first time yesterday. After the trade from the Raiders he's now reunited with Aaron Rodgers. The two played together for eight seasons in Green Bay and well, now, trying to rekindle that old magic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVANTE ADAMS, WIDE RECEIVER, NEW YORK JETS: I mean, it's great just being back and being able to be with my guy. Like, first and foremost, just being able to spend time with him every day again is something that I put a lot of value on. So just having his company but obviously, having him as my quarterback again. I mean, we've -- he is part of why I am who I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:55:00]

SCHOLES: All right. So the Jets 2-4 so far this season, Kasie. Not much room for error now that, you know, they fired their coach, they made the trade for Davante Adams. They play at the Steelers, "SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL." So we'll see if they can turn it around.

HUNT: Yeah. I think I've told you my husband is a Jets fan, so we have some sad sports fans in my house as a general rule but --

SCHOLES: But a (INAUDIBLE) season.

HUNT: It really is special, yeah.

OK, Andy. Thank you.

SCHOLES: All right.

HUNT: I really appreciate it. See you tomorrow, I hope.

SCHOLES: All right.

HUNT: All right. Coming up in our next hour on CNN THIS MORNING, fans mourning the loss of One Direction star Liam Payne. The 31-year-old died Wednesday after falling from the third story of his hotel. The 911 call made moments before his death.

Plus, Donald Trump doubling down on his comments about the enemy within and exactly who he thinks that is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And it is the enemy from within, and they're very dangerous. They're Marxists, and communists, and fascists, and they're sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

HUNT: It's Thursday, October 17.