Eastern, Erin Burnett Outfront starts right now outfront. Next polls about to close in the state of michigan, it crucial test in the key Battleground State for both trump and biden, john king is outfront at the Magic Wall Plus Team Trump Star Witness fails to deliver today. Now saying he cant recall when georgia da fani willis began her relationship with her top prosecutor in trump case. Did he just help willis state on that . A trump case . And to top Olympic Fence or from russia speaking out after defecting from his country, slamming putin for the war in ukraine will be my guest tonight. Lets go outfront and good evening. Im Erin Burnett Outfront tonight. The breaking news, a mystery in michigan tonight. Polls are just about to close in the crucial swing state. One of just a handful of states that will determine the outcome of the 2024 election and when it comes to the republican primary tonight, theres little polling to show where voters stand when it comes to nikki haley and donald trump, neither one has spent much time in this state. And nikki haley only hit the ground on sunday after south carolina, her campaign only started running Television Ads in the state last week it is for trump, hes not even there tonight. Hes actually planning just to call into a gop Victory Party and on the democratic side, biden tonight facing an unprecedented uproar over his support for israel by the target of a Massive Campaign urging democratic Arab Americans and muslims to catch Protest Votes against the president tonight images like the ones were about to show you have caused outrage and pain in those communities. People struggling to survive. One of gazas only functioning hospitals, as spittle staff calls a quote, death zone. Now, people digging with their bare hands in neighborhood after neighborhood, looking for dead children after airstrikes. Organizers of tonights protest vote in michigan are hoping it sends a message to biden that he must change course. And the reality is that michigan is a must win in november, Biden Won The State by just over 150,000 votes in 2020 and Arab Americans were a big part of that. They turned out overwhelmingly for him. In fact, he won by nearly 70 in michigans most heavily arab american communities. And that community is expected to pay an even more significant role in 2024, they now make up the majority of residents in the entire city of dearborn, which is one of the largest cities in the entire state of michigan the states total Middle Eastern population is now over 300,000, twice the margin of victory last time. And then moment im going to speak to john king about what he is watching tonight. In this crucial primary in terms of what it will reveal for both democrats and republicans, i want to go first to the ground, omar jimenez, who is outfront live at a Polling Station in waterford, michigan, and omar i know youve been there, youve been talking to people coming in a casting their vote all day. What are they telling you yeah, weve heard oh, wide range of opinions from a wide range of people in short, trump supporters, many of them have said that immigration and the economy or tops of minds for them, while biden supporters have said, the economy and Human Decency in the white house has been top of mind for them. Then weve heard a few more nuanced opinions spoke to one person who actually voted for marianne williamson, who announced she was suspending her campaign earlier this month. But really, this was someone who said he previously voted for joe biden in 2020. But because of his handling of the israel hamas war, he couldnt bring himself to vote for him. Again. Now of course, that message has been the central the theme of what we have seen be a major push in this state led by arab american activists. And as we know, to vote uncommitted over his handling of what has happened with israel and gaza. And hamas. Now, as you mentioned before, coming to me, this state here in michigan has the largest arab American Population shan of any state in the entire country. No doubt, a crucial voting bloc when we get to the general election. But i want you to take a listen to one biden supporter. We spoke to even though this has been billed as not an antibiden vote has been billed as a protest vote. This voter, this biden voter, didnt necessarily agree with Voting Uncommitted because he saw the alternative to joe biden as much worse, take a listen a lot of people that are opposing him over this uncommitted theyre forgetting about the muslim ban when the women were at the airport wanting to visit their families and they were banned from the country. Theyve totally forgotten about that and if he gets back in there and he doesnt have to worry about any voters. Imagine what theyre going. Hes going to do it all and hes of course talking about that 2017 Temporary Travel Ban that trump instituted on seven majority muslim countries. But obviously it is a dynamic not just to watch here in the primary, but of course, it indicates where support may or may not be heading into the general election. Another dynamic weve watched for today is look, you may notice its not exactly a packed behind me right now, but that doesnt mean people havent been voting. We saw over 1 Million People vote either early or absentee prior to get being here today. And that of course, has been a major victory for a lot of voting organizers here. All right, omar, thank you very much and i wanna go now to john king at the magic wall. So john, the results obviously may not be the big story tonight in terms of who the winner is. But what is beneath that certainly will say a lot. What are you looking for on the republican side of things, this slide, this out of the way, aaron, it will get to it number one, if you look at the map right now, its donald trump. Donald trump, donald trump, donald trump, right . Hes for now and the states 5. 0. If you hadnt, the virgin islands. So if youre nikki haley, who could be gone from the race a week from tonight after super tuesday, you are looking for some proof that Republican Voters are listening to you and you say, hey, wake up, we have to stop this and so will it come in michigan tonight . I never won 55 delegates at stake. Number to be careful about that, most of the delegates, a State Convention decides where the delegates go. It will be influenced for at least 16 of those delegates by the prime results that i, but its not necessarily beholden to the prime results tonight and trump has the state party pretty wild. But what do you look for . So lets go back to 2016 in the republican primary. Lets cut 2016, not 2012. There we go. 2012 was interesting too though. Trump won michigan. Where do you see the ted cruz . You see some ted cruz and john kasich in the suburban areas thats still what you look for tonight . Look, erin, the math has been pretty clear for nikki haley for some time. She says she needs to stay in to try to rattle the party to rally around her michigan gives her an opportunity. Well be looking in the suburbs. I wouldnt run to vegas in place a bet on that. But as you watch the vote coming tonight, is there any evidence in michigan tonight that after these four contests, Republican Voters are saying, you know, shes right, we need to give boost if she doesnt get it in michigan tonight. As i said, next tuesday night could be the last her off. So thats the republican side now on the democratic side, right . As youve omar was just laying out, youve got more Arab Americans in michigan than any other state. This socalled protest vote is that it is being billed is could be very significant for biden, right . And its whats called technically, i know uncommitted in terms of the box you check in michigan, what do you watching there . How big is the uncommitted vote and then how do we understood theres a history of Voting Uncommitted in the democratic primary mission. So lets not overstate this at the same time, you mentioned the top of the show, joe biden won by 154,000 votes. Last time thats why the 2020 map up here, right . 300,000 people have Middle Eastern descent, 200,000 or so of them muslims in michigan, most of them live, many of them live in dearborn and detroit suburb out here. But its not just the Arab Americans, erin, we were in michigan several weeks ago every american say mr. President , we are going to vote against you. Theyre threatening to vote against not only in this primary but in november as well if the policy doesnt change and guess what, the Israeli Gaza Conflict has also called the president , a giant problem with younger voters. Listen you know mr. President , ive seen you take key humanitarian steps, but i think the next step is a ceasefire and i think that that would go along way with voters, muslims all across this country voted for biden because we were not in 1 million years, would i like to vote for trump . But coming around this year, i dont know if im voting at all, but i definitely will not be voting for biden. I was just going to say you feel this way to an extent, yes. That will tell me why well, i dont know if the cameras saw that, but it says abandon biden i feel as though President Biden doesnt value my life as a Muslim American as much as he values other lives. And i think thats why i feel that way. And so aaron ibrahim told our team today he did vote in the primary and he voted uncommitted. He is not completely foreclosing voted for the president november, but he said he would need to see a giant policy shift. And so thats the issue when it comes to the math of the Battleground States this was actually a pretty good one for joe biden, 154,000 votes. But come november, he needs to be worried about nikki haley supporters in the suburbs trying to win them over. He needs to be competing with donald trump for the auto workers in detroit in the suburbs around detroit. He does not. If he is competing for Muslim American arab american votes, come october, young voters come october, then hes in trouble, right . Right. Thats focusing on a place you shouldnt have to focus, i guess is how they would see it in the Democratic Party. So what does tonight . Tell us about that . About how november shapes up. I would be careful about tonight because it is a primary where do we know trump is well ahead and biden as well ahead. So its hard to project all the way to november except for on that question of democratic enthusiasm, i think is very important because one of the issues you look at is where we are now, right . What does what do we know coming into tonight that this is a very three different race than 2020 that the president is in trouble in many of those states that were key to his victory including the state of michigan, a poll just this month by fox trump, 4,025. 37. Noteworthy, both candidates are so low. Lot of people dont like either of this. They dont just dont like this choice. But in the Battleground States, michigan, hes losing georgia, hes losing pennsylvania. Its tied wisconsins, its tied so if you look at the math, michigan has a democratic governor, biden won it pretty comfortably actually by Battleground State standards for years ago, if he is struggling here, its signals. Hes got very broad troubles. All right. John king. Thank you very much as we await those results, i want to go now to the highest ranking muslim lawmaker in michigan, the Democratic StateHouse Majority leader, abraham. I asked you is the first arab american to be a Majority Leader in a state legislature. And i very much appreciate your time leader, so i know youre urging democrats to vote uncommitted. Thats the box you just heard a voter. Theyre telling john king he had checked that thats the box to check for two protests bidens biden in this case. Now, there are always uncommitted votes the primaries in michigan, as john pointed out, its been about 20,000 votes in each of the past three democratic cycles. So with that context, what are you hoping to accomplish tonight . Look, President Biden has been one of the most consequential president s in modern American History as it relates to the domestic policy well, what weve seen over the last four months is nothing less than an abject moral failure in terms of dignifying the humanity of the palestinians what were seeing in michigan is a groundswell of support of people that are antiwar and people that want this country to leave with moral clarity. And one our president to not support an administration in israel that has killed nearly 30,000 innocent men, women, and children. So tonights a will be a reflection of that frustration and folks are going to come out and demand better for our government and for our democracy through the best way possible, which is our vote. So have you heard today from the president or anyone on his team about your efforts to get put to vote against him in the primary tonight . No. And i want to be clear, this is not a vote against the president , but this is a vote for reaffirming that the United States should stand on the principles of human rights on Dignifying Palestinians in that we are not going to be a country that greenlights the innocent of the killing of innocent men, women, and children that weve seen the neck now the regime has done over the last four months and its unacceptable. Does the cease fire while it would be crucial, is that something that doesnt for you or is that an Essential Checking the box . I mean, gaza is still leveled. People are theres been an incredible amount of death and destruction does the cease fire do it for you well, when we met with the white house, a couple of weeks ago, our demands were very clear. We need to see a permanent ceasefire. We want to see the flow of humanitarian aid and the reconstruction of gaza. And finally, Setting Conditions and restrictions on the aid israel, it does not make sense that we speak about human rights and we did it with the way we talk about the ukrainian people and their right to selfdetermination and their right to safety and security. Yet in the same vein, we are funding in Israeli Government that does not seem to have any regard for the humanity of the palestinians. And i think this message, this is a way to emphasize and we do not want to you see this hypocrisy from our leadership. But rather we want to see that moral clarity in the Foreign Policy that we unfortunately have not seen yet. So if you dont see all of those things, or youre not comfortable with this as time goes on in november at this point, obviously, it seems that your choices are going to be Biden Or Trump for the democrats and republicans obviously you could go another route, but those would be, thatll be the democratic and republican choice. As it looks right now. And obviously, abraham, youre aware of this, but i want to remind everybody watching about some of the things trump has said about the Muslim Community unfortunately at this moment in time, there is a muslim problem in the world who have people that were cheering and the other side of new jersey where you have large arab populations, they were cheering as the world dredge that it came down. Donald j. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown. Of muslims entering the United States. I think islam hates us when i returned to office, the travel ban is coming back even bigger than before and much stronger than before. Obviously that was over a tenyear period, but that last comment was last summer, right . That the muslim ban is going to come back even bigger than before if he wins again those are just a small sampling of the things that youre well aware that trump has said over the years . If this ends up in a situation where muslims and michigan do not show up for biden, right even if they dont vote for trump, they they they stay home, write something happens. Either way. That means that biden could lose the state to lose the election. Are you okay with that outcome, abraham theres no doubt that donald trump is a threat to the american republic, is a threat to the idea of democracy. No one is arguing against that. But i think the question that we have to ask ourselves and to ask President Biden is the voters have done everything theyve been told us. Theyre supposed to do. They go out, they produce does the lobby their elected officials . They ask for our government to do better. That is inherently democratic. And when we see our leaders not act and react and heed the call of the public. The question then becomes, what is President Biden willing to do to protect and save democracy from donald trump is not the question that we should be asking. Game the end of the voters when i run for office, erin, i dont get mad at people when i lose my election or people dont resonate with my message, i go back and ask myself, what could i have done better to campaign and what platform and what vision did i not present that should have inspired people. So the question that we need to be asking is that