Straight from the source tonight, country over party. That is the message from liz cheney and a passionate plea to americans while standing with the democratic nominee in the birthplace of the republican party also tonight, an old photo has surfaced as a republican member of congress in blackface. I'll dressed up as michael jackson tonight. Congressman mike lawler will join me live to respond and trapped in the flooding two people are dead, four more are still missing night and tennessee factory is under investigation after workers say they weren't allowed to leave to escape hurricane helene until it was too late. I'm kaitlan collins, and this is the source donald trump's efforts to overturn the last presidential election are front and center with only weeks to go before the next one the fallout from the culmination of those efforts by donald trump, january 6, is what pushed liz cheney to do something that would have been unthinkable for anyone in her family. Just four years ago the lifelong republican sharing a campaign stage today alongside the democratic presidential nominee and have all locations the birthplace of the republican party donald trump started spray tanning i know that the most conservative of conservative values is fidelity to our constitution sacrifice vice are capitol to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized in his name and to violate the law and the constitution. In order to seize power for himself. I don't care if you are a democrat or a republican or an independent that is depravity and we must never become numb to it after those forceful comments. Liz cheney then stood over her shoulder as we saw the vice president goes somewhere that she has mostly avoided for months election that statement, of course, was the one thing we did not hear from trump's running mate, jd vance earlier this week on the debate stage. But this comes as the massive trove of evidence that the special counsel says it has on trump's efforts to overturn the election as all looming over this endorsement from liz cheney. Because the man who was quoted in that filing that we brought you here last night saying, quote, it doesn't matter if you won or lost the election. He's still saying this for years later won we won is a rigged election was a rigged election of course, he did not win in 2020, as we know my political sources tonight are former communications director to vice president harris jamal simmons, scott jennings, who served a long with vice president dick cheney and the george w bush administration. And journalists and cofounder of lift our voices. Gretchen carlson, jamal, that was a full throated endorsement day that we heard from liz cheney, just watching it. I mean, i know that we're used to everything happening in this day and age, but it seemed just almost just unimaginable a few years ago. And does it work though? that's the question i think think. For the record, that's what a lot of my career you campaigning against the chinese it's tough one, it's got to be surreal for you to see that. Didn't go very well we think i'd rather be on their side. I think. Listen, i think this does give some republicans who earn some moderates, maybe who are thinking about what to do. We know that sliver is getting smaller and smaller, but maybe it does give them some opportunity to come out and vote for vice president harris. I think she didn't just say do it because you know, trump's horrible. It's bad. She gave her a pretty big endorsement about who she was and where she comes from, and what her values are. I think she gave them a ringing endorsement and the vice president got up there and really didn't make i thought it was a very interesting she didn't make liz cheney applied for anything or stand there and take anything that she wouldn't apply for? she didn't talk about a lot of social issues. She didn't talk about any of the things that might be controversial between democrats and republicans. It was america first freedom. We're all in this together. Let's fight and win. And she said, i hope we can get back to a place where we have a vigorous twoparty debate in this nation. Obviously, we're having won, but she was saying the republican party is so different i mean, does what liz cheney did today create a permission structure for republicans who are our kamala curious about voting for her? yeah, but i don't think anyone who hasn't made up their mind yet is looking for permission from her. But i do think this was a very brave act on her part. It takes courage to do what she did after january 6. It takes courage to do what she did today. I thought what was most fascinating was that they didn't talk about policy at all they probably don't agree on much of anything except foreign policy. They did talk foreign policy, foreign policy agreed on that but i mean, that's a very insightful point that they stayed away from police i see look, liz cheney's mission there today was that she believes democracy is at stake. And that's the number one thing she's been talking about for the past few years. And she's willing to look past any other policy differences because she believes we won't have a democracy anymore if donald trump is elected, i mean, scott, obviously as the republican at the table, who did to work for dick cheney when he was vice president and that administration you know, when you see that today, what do you make of that? i revere big cheney. I was glad to work for him twice and honored to serve underneath them. I mean, i just want to mentally disagree that we won't have a democracy. I think this country is strong, stronger than any individual we will politician in either party. And so i believe deeply that the policy differences matter. So did liz cheney at one point, she used to call kamala harris radical liberal, who would raise taxes, take away guns, and health insurance, and explode the size and power of the federal government. Now this means something to a lot of people and so i don't begrudge her her viewpoints. And obviously if she strongly dislikes donald trump and what he represents, but there are a heck of a lot of people in this country who thought they were getting something out of bidenharris that they did not get. And there's a lot of republicans and conservatives who probably may have some proclaimed devotees that cheney has about what trump did on january the sixth, but are mortified at the policy outcomes of bidenharris. They were not moderates, they were radical liberals, just like cheney predicted, they would be. But what about when bill barr tells me trump can have all these policies that people say, well, i like his policies better, but bill barr said to me, basically his personality gets in the way he can actually achieve those policies i think kamala harris is personnel is on the way to i mean, i mean, they're politicians, they're human beings, they are things about them we like and are things about them we don't like, i think politics has a couple of purposes. Win elections and govern. And the way harris has governed last threeandahalf years, i cannot abide. It's like this is why she wasn't going after you for a vote today. She going after people who've already decided i work for george w bush and her dad, who would she be going after because that's not the republican party anymore, but that's what those are her people. Those people are they not? yes, but that's not who's running as a republican this election cycle that's the whole point of this discussion. She's going after the 2% of undecided that is, she's going after independence and she's going after republicans that hate donald trump. Those are the two groups. And it's a very small group. But when you have an election this close, it could matter. Well, let's talk to a republican that we have with us who worked for donald trump, sarah matthews is here and sarah obviously, you were the deputy press secretary in the trump administration when i was covering it you have endorsed liz cheney. You're voting for or sorry, for kamala harris. You're voting for or you're gonna be with liz cheney on the campaign trail next week are used someone who ever thought that you'd find yourself voting for a democrat? i think if you would have told me for years ago that i'd be excited to cast my ballot for kamala harris for president in 2024, my head would have exploded. So no, i did not envision myself being in this position, but i also didn't think that an insurrection at our nation's capital was possible. I also didn't think that we would ever have a president who would disrupt the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our nation's history. So it made the decision easy because i believe that donald trump has shown us that he is wholly unfit to ever serve as president. Again and so yeah, i'm going to vote for the person who i think can beat him and will keep him out of office and away from the oval office. What do you plan to to say next week when when you do appear alongside, not just liz cheney, i should note, but also alyssa farah griffin, who our viewers will know well, cassie hutchinson, two other former prominent trump's supporters and trump staffers look, i think that all of us identify as lifelong conservatives. I can say that i've never voted for a democrat and my life and i believe that the other three have never as well, but we know that the stakes are too high in this election and we've seen up close and personal at least cassidy, alissa, and myself. What what kind of leader donald trump is. And we know him to be unfit. And so we don't want to sit on the sidelines in this election, and we want to make our voices heard in somewhere like pennsylvania where i believe that this message could break through. Obviously we know that pennsylvania is going to be critical and that the margins are going to be tight and i want to say that in pennsylvania during the primary process, there were 100 i'm 58,000 republicans who turned out to cast a vote for nikki haley in that primary. That is a closed primary. So that means that no democrats or independents can vote in it. And these people knew that their vote when it matter in the sense that donald trump was still going to be the nominee and he would win the primary. But they did it in protests. And so even if just a fraction of those people, we can convince to write in kamala harris instead of sitting this selection now or voting for donald trump are leaving the top of their ballot blank, then that could be something that pushes kamala harris over the edge and gives her a win in that critical key battleground state. That's a great point about those. Nikki haley voters. I want everyone to listen trump responded to cheney endorsing harris and a very public way she did today. This is what trump had to say about it congress she was terrible. Liz cheney is a stupid warhawk. All she wants to do is shoot missiles at paypal. I really think it hurts think frankly, if kamala i think they hurt each other, i think there's so bad boss women. How many times do we have to say this? he's calling her stupid. It just makes me cringe. It doesn't even matter who i'm going to vote for or what i think it's just why would he keep doing that? i guess i'll ask scott that. Why would he keep doing that and think that he might have a chance at getting some of those independent women and suburban moms. I just don't understand it. I mean, i look you're welcome to your opinions. I mean, my view is he debates his political opponents with great vigor and the independent and suburban women of this country may or may not have already formed opinions about him, but i doubt they're going to cast their ballot based on what his views of liz cheney or i hope they cast her ballot based on the inflation under which they've been crushed for the last threeandahalf years, for instance to me, this this idea that he's not allowed to fire back at his critics when they call him everything, but a good milk cow. I just think is ludicrous. It's a political campaign and its october buckle up everybody. Well, that's also paid system was really happening. He's not going to suburban women, right? he's not going after women. But yeah, maybe she is, but he's not he's going after those disaffected guys who are playing video games, watching wwe, not paying attention to politics. And they are trying to get every single one of them they can to show up in this election and vote for him. I got to tell you. It is so bracing i imagine it. I don't know if it's bracing for you. Not scott. It would be bracing for me that so many people who have worked into mentally with donald trump who know him so well from cabinet officials to military officials, to staffers have all come out and said this man should not be trusted with the white house again. Well, and the economy is the number one issue for voters. But impulse, we've seen democracy is really high up the other underneath it aren't even close. We had the republican house whip, tom tom emmer on last night from minnesota. We were talking to him about this and talking about what came out in that filing last night about the effort efforts to overturn the election, which is why liz cheney was up there today and listen to what tom emmer had to say this is something that you folks in the media want to focus on a regular basis. The american people, and thank goodness, jd vance and donald trump are focused on the election and how to fix this country trump went on at length today about the 2020 election, as we just heard saying that he wanted this isn't something that the media is just concocting. Trump himself is still talking about 20 and jd vance on tuesday night also, wouldn't give a straight answer on this. So look, it's an inconvenient truth that this is something that we're still talking about, but i think this whole thing could have stopped when mitch mcconnell had the opportunity to stop it on that day on january 6, we would not be looking at the same republican party today. We would not because he could have coalesced the members of congress right then and there to not allow donald trump to make them push back what they thought about it. And they could have impeached him and it would have be there to give her everybody a rudimentary civics lesson. The house impeachers. And it took them a long time to get to it. And yes. It was just talking about and then the senate, but it took a long time to get i don't disagree with you if they convenient done it that night, maybe they would have what it took less than a long time for pelosi to get around to it. It