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Inside Politics

Harris, Trump Make Closing Pitches In Campaign's Final Hours; Pennsylvania Could Be Key To Electoral Victory; Trump Laying Groundwork To Claim Election Stolen If He Loses; Tim Scott Refuses To Condemn False Claims Of Election Fraud; In CNN Interview, Clinton Opens Up To About His Own Mortality. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired November 04, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:31:38]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. It is election eve and I am with John King at the Magic Wall as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will make their final pitch to voters.

John, I want to start with a flashback. 2016, the first time Donald Trump was on any ballot. It was the day before. Here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: For 98 days, she has led the race. That's why a lot of people, the technical people, the people who do this for a living, say it's not a Brexit situation. But that's what Donald Trump is counting on.

If you're behind in the polls, you can defy them with a great operation. Donald Trump, in many of these places, is just counting on it being this huge, you know, come out of the woodwork.

BASH: As somebody who's watched him very, I mean, we all have, but I, you know, really studied his candidacy over the past year and a half, the ups and downs, that he's fallen off the discipline wagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Turns out he's once again fallen off the discipline wagon, but will it matter?

KING: Here's the 2016 flashback. This is where we were on this day in 2016, where our projections had Hillary Clinton at 268 knocking on the door of 270 electoral votes in the White House. But look at this map. We had the blue wall leaning blue on that day, right?

She lost all three of those to Donald Trump, which is why everybody at home, be prepared for anything to happen tomorrow. In the sense that you can be leading by a little bit. But we knew there was Trump movement at the end. The question was, he had led -- she had led the race for so long, was it enough to overcome?

Well it turned out, on Election Day, it was enough to overcome. So where are we now, right? We're in a much less clear situation, right? Let me just quickly do this. In 2020, we already had Joe Biden over the top. It was pretty clear from the data that Joe Biden was going to win the 2020 election the day before the election.

We still had to wait for the count because of the pandemic complexities of the election, but it was pretty clear. And then again, you had to deal with the question, is Donald Trump surprising us again in 2020? And he did not. So here's where we are now.

So the Vice President, it's a modest lead, but she's had a consistent lead here, modestly, but a consistent lead here. That would get her there. This is why Pennsylvania is so important. This is why both candidates are spending so much time and have spent so much in an enormous --

BASH: And she's going to be there the entire day today?

KING: Right, right. And she's going to the right place in terms of getting votes and stuff. Because look, if she holds these, doesn't mean she will, but she's had a modest consistent lead in both of those states. If she holds this, that's enough. As long as she picks up Nebraska second congressional district where all the polling shows she's running strong.

That's her easiest path. No path is easy. But that's the easiest path. If she doesn't win this, let's say Donald Trump wins that, how does Harris get there? Well, you have to win at least two more. And even these two wouldn't be enough. Let's say she did well out here. Those two aren't enough, because they're not big enough in terms of how many electoral votes they have.

That's why Pennsylvania is so prominent here. If you're Donald Trump, you think if you win Pennsylvania, that you're going to do this again, right? That you're going to defy the polling again, and you're going to do this --

BASH: Because almost always, except for I think it was 88, that they didn't vote together?

KING: They voted together since 1992.

BASH: Yes.

KING: They have voted -- the three of them have voted together since 1992 --

BASH: Yes.

KING: -- including 2016 when they did this. In every other election, they have voted blue. Which is why, again, you know, will we know the winner here tomorrow night? Maybe not. But we might know the winner's here. And so you see if they're sticking together or anything like that. But if you watch this play out, even if Donald Trump wins the blue wall, he still has to win somewhere else, right? But if you're winning the three of these, it's a pretty safe bet you're going to win at least one or two of those. We live in a pretty nationalized election climate.

So that's why this one is so key because it's 19, right? This is 16. That's 16. You think, well, that's only three.

[12:35:00]

But when you're trying to get to 270, if we have a, you know, he wins one, she wins one, then you just get into this wild card race. I mean, let's us -- if Donald Trump were to win the whole blue wall, right, this is what's fascinating to me. Let's just, you know, just -- these are the whiter, older states, right?

Demographically, they should favor him. These have been more Republican states of late. But let's say Donald Trump won all that. Can the Vice President still win? Well, yes, but she would have to pull off a Sun Belt sweep. You have to come across and just do the entire -- come on for me there. You know, she would have to do the all the Sun Belt states, right?

It would be a very different map, a map like we've never seen before. But 2020 was a map with Arizona and Georgia flipping like we've never seen before --

BASH: Right.

KING: -- which is why, you know, these are the three that most likely are going to decide, you know, who goes to the dance, who gets 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Those are the three that are likely to decide it. But again, we live in this crazy year --

BASH: Yes.

KING: -- where there's many different paths. There's many different ways to get there. And again, we could have a blow by blow, state by state or somebody could sweep them like Biden did in 2020.

BASH: We're just going to have to let the voters vote.

KING: Math.

BASH: We'll tell you what happens.

KING: That's a good math.

BASH: Coming up, preparing Plan B. Donald Trump is continuing to push baseless claims about voter fraud in case Election Day doesn't go his way. We'll explain the lies and the danger next.

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[12:40:48] BASH: Nearly every poll shows that this race is virtually tied. So let's be clear, it could end with Donald Trump or Kamala Harris winning. But if it is Harris, few people expect to hear a Trump concession speech. In fact, before ballots have even been counted before Election Day, Trump is laying the groundwork to baselessly claim the election was stolen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They want it. They want it. They are fighting so hard to steal this damn thing. Look at what's going on. Look what's going on in your state. Every day, they're talking about extending hours.

These elections have to be -- they have to be decided by 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 on Tuesday night.

AUDIENCE: Yes.

TRUMP: Bunch of crooked people. These are crooked people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Yes, that's not a thing that happens. Our reporters are back now.

And again, it is very possible that Donald Trump could just win this outbreak, legit. But it's not going to happen that they're going to be done counting for lots of reasons. Primarily the laws of these key states, MJ. North Carolina and Arizona, new laws may delay reporting of early votes. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin mail-in ballots are not processed until Election Day. Nevada, ballots postmarked on Election Day are accepted even if they arrive by November 9th.

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and all of that is why we have been doing so much work to try to just prepare our readers and our viewers on what kinds of scenarios we might expect. And just to let it sink into people's heads the slowness, the potential slowness that we might see in the counting and certain states being called, that all of that is within the realm of possibility.

And that has translated for the Harris campaign on actually predicting over and over again in all of their public statements. We fully expect that Donald Trump is going to either declare victory or say that something has gone awry, something sinister is at play.

So that they can almost numb people to that possibility so that when he does it, there aren't people that are saying, oh my gosh, is this a thing that's happening that we should be suspicious of? They want people to have heard that over and over again.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Everyone should take a deep breath. It's been a long campaign, but it is over almost soon. But one thing that I'm sort of struck by this is we talked to voters January 6th and election -- the election on denialism is part of this campaign now. It was not the last campaign. That was after 2020. So this is driving some voters to the polls.

I met a woman in Wisconsin last week who said she is voting in this election. Her main issue is January 6th. So all of this, every time that the former president says it, he is sort of driving some people potentially, but let's all take a deep breath --

BASH (?): Yes.

ZELENY: -- because it may not take all week, but it may.

BASH: I talked to Tim Scott, who's a supporter, he came on State of the Union as a surrogate for Donald Trump. Asked him about the lies that Donald Trump has been telling. Let's watch that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): I would never tell any candidate on the ballot to talk about what happens if they lose. Obviously, you're going to lean into the victory, especially --

BASH: I appreciate that, Senator. Forgive me but spreading falls rumors --

SCOTT: -- when the latest polls in the battleground states says that you're running forward. You're running ahead of your candidate.

BASH: Totally, but saying false things about fraud --

SCOTT: Totally discreet (ph) of this one.

BASH: -- is not -- you think it's OK to spread false rumors about fraud and undermine the integrity of the election, regardless of what happens?

SCOTT: Dana, the liberal media has done a better job of spreading misinformation --

BASH: Oh come on, Senator.

SCOTT: -- than any candidate I've seen so far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The crime there is he knows better and yet they just keep saying it. Donald Trump knows better and he just keeps saying it. And the impact of the crime is that you talk to dozens of really hardworking, honest Americans who are Trump voters who have now, this is in their bloodstream.

Do not trust the media. Do not trust the count. Do not trust the honest people who count the votes in their own county, who are their neighbors, who are their friends. And so that is, to me, it's reprehensible, number one. He didn't complain after he won in 2016. Funny, right?

[12:45:02] He doesn't complain about the system when he wins. He only complains when he loses. But they have put so much poison in the well so that they can challenge it. And he's had sadly, a lot of help from the MAGA media, echo chamber, which has said there's no way she can get 75 million votes. She's incompetent.

The only way she can win is for it to be stolen. So it's not just Donald Trump. He's had a lot of help from Senator Scott, but also from the MAGA media ecosphere.

BASH: And that includes -- and is especially true when you look at social media and that echo chamber. Sara Murray has a terrific piece on CNN.com about just taking a look at Georgia, and it's Republican versus Republican there.

KING: Right.

BASH: You have Republicans who are putting out information on videos that are just not true, and then you have the Republican leadership in the state saying, stop, do not believe this.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Listen, and thank goodness for those folks who are in leadership in some of these states. They were crucial in 2020 as the Trump campaign and Trump himself tried to overturn the election. So we hope that firewall remains in states like Georgia.

You know, I am confident that Americans are smart. We've sort of seen this movie before in terms of the Trump playbook of seeding the waters with some of these conspiracy theories even before the votes are cast and all counted. So I do take some comfort in that, that there has been an education and sort of trial by fire because of Donald Trump and Americans are sort of hip to the games and the conspiracy theories coming out of his mouth.

BASH: It is an honor to have all of you here on this last Inside Politics before Election Day. Thank you so much.

But don't go anywhere. After the break, as Harris and Trump vie to be the 47th president, CNN's Isaac Dovere at down with number 42, President Bill Clinton. They had an exclusive conversation, really fascinating. We'll bring some of it to you next.

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[12:51:17]

BASH: One of Vice President Harris's busiest surrogates is former President Bill Clinton. He's been crisscrossing the country, hitting swing states, and campaigning for about three weeks straight, doing 10-hour days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not running for anything obviously. Donald is here, but it's only an hour long (ph). (LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: But I'm running for something, I'm campaigning for my grandchildren (ph) in the future.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Other than making speeches, the 78-year-old has said little to the media that is until CNN's Isaac Dovere got his exclusive with Bill Clinton and there he is now. Hi Isaac. So President --

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Hi.

BASH: -- Clinton got pretty candid about the Democrats fears the country might not survive another four years of Trump. I want our viewers to listen to what he told you on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I think you have to look at what the definition of survive is. You can put me on a breathing tube tonight, but it wouldn't be like surviving, like I'm surviving now.

DOVERE (?): Yes.

CLINTON: And the same thing is true in politics. I don't know if we can survive or not. I think it would be a travesty if he became president again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Isaac, take it away.

DOVERE: Yes, so that was us riding a bus between Benton Harbor, Michigan and Battle Creek, Michigan. Part of, as you said, this really busy schedule that President Clinton has been keeping up. And it is taking him to places where Democrats usually don't go, certainly where presidents have not gone before almost ever.

And when I -- wanted to talk to you about is, he's the guy who tapped into the white working class vote himself. His wife, obviously, was the one who lost to Donald Trump in 2016. And he is the only person on the planet who has been president and who knows both of these candidates personally.

He has a view, also, of his own presidency, sort of, the fruits of it coming out at this point, and being able to really see the scope of it. And he said to me, he thinks Kamala Harris will win. He's excited for her to be president, but he's really quite disturbed about where things are in politics whatever happens.

And if she does win, he said to me that he looks at the situation and says, he compared it to when fascism was spreading across Europe in the 1930s, that people are willing to go along with things he says they know aren't good and know aren't true, as long as they feel like things maybe were better for them a little bit, and that they are ready to ascribe that, he says magically, to Donald Trump.

BASH: Isaac, that particular quote really stuck out to me when he described, as you said, people who are so upset about their economic status and so forth that they went along with leaders in demagogues, fascists in Europe in the 1930s that they knew really were bad news.

I want to totally change gears because there's something else that you talked to Bill Clinton about. I've heard him talk several times in the past year or so about turning 78 and the fact that that made him the longest living man in his family in like a million generations.

You asked him whether he thinks about his own mortality. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I did not think I'd live to be 78. Because I didn't know about all the advances in heart health, all the things I could do with diet. All the things that, you know. Now, I'd love to live to be 90 or 100 and --

DOVERE: You going to beat our Jimmy Carter now.

CLINTON: As long as I can. Now, if he heard that whispered in his ear, he'd live to be 150.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:55:00]

DOVERE: If you remember, there was that moment at the end of his convention speech in Chicago when he said, this May, I don't know how many more conventions we're going to get. And it made a lot of people think that maybe he was sick, maybe he's getting too old.

I -- that's what that conversation started with. And he said to me toward the end of that bit of the conversation, I know I freak some people out, but I'm fine, other than some problems with my hands.

BASH: Yes. All right. Well, that was such an interesting interview. Really fascinating. You could hear the wheels of the bus churning in those audio clips, and I encourage everybody to check it out on CNN.com.

Thanks for joining me, Isaac.

And we want to --

DOVERE: Thank you.

BASH: -- remind you again to tune in tomorrow night, election night in America right here on CNN. Special live coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. on CNN, streaming on CNN Max.

Thank you so much for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after the break.

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