Transcripts For KPIX CBS News 2020 America Decides 20240711

KPIX CBS News 2020 America Decides July 11, 2024

Judges will have to rule. Each ballot must be counted, and thats what were going to see going through now, and thats how it should be. From cbs news election headquarters in times square, this is a cbs news election update, 2020 america decides. Reporting tonight, Norah Odonnell. Odonnell youre looking live at times square in new york as the counting continues across the country. Good evening, im Norah Odonnell. Here at what has become our home away from home this week. And tonight, the race for the white house is down to the wire, and who will become the next dresident could soon be decided by thousands of votes. As we come on the air tonight, only 1900 votes now separate President Trump and former Vice President joe biden in the state of georgia. In four other states, votes are still being counted, too. In fact, we want to show you live pictures of poll workers in tallying ballots right now. Joe bidens lead in that state has shrunk to 46,000 votes. Also, pennsylvanias vote count is changing by the minute, too. The president once led by 600,000 votes. His lead is now around 42,000. Lets take a look at nevada. Biden leads by about 12,000 votes there. And lets not leave out North Carolina. The president s lead has held steady at about 76,000 votes. At this at this hour, joe biden leads President Trump in the electoral vote, 253 to 213. Hyw, that is just 17 votes shy o of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election. Earlier tonight, in an extraordinary statement from the White House Briefing room, the president said he would win reelection easily if only the legal votes are counted. As we know, all of the votes being counted right now are legal. By contrast, joe biden is appealing for calm, again telling americans to have patience. Theres a lot to get to tonight. Were going to have a lot of analysis, best team in the business. But i want to go over to Major Garrett first with the latest path to the white house, which is now within striking distance for joe biden. Major. Reporter good evening, norah. Good evening, everyone. I want to bring everyones attention to pennsylvania because what happens in pennsylvania could be determinative in the next few hours, maybe tonight, some time tomorrow, and heres why. If pennsylvania goes to former Vice President joe biden this is a callable race. He goes to 273 if nothing else on this map changes. Vewill remind you as we have gone over the last couple of nights there is no path for reelection for President Trump that does not include pennsylvania. Now, pennsylvania is counting votes through the night, as norah indicated. You can go to the web site, pennsylvania secretary of state, and watch that process unfold with your very eyes. The trend lines have not been encouraging for President Trump or his supporters. He has been losing ground in pennsylvania all day, and those votes still being counted predominantly come from the philadelphia and pittsburgh region, generally favorable to joe biden. In we dont expect definitive results until some time early next week. Georgia, add norah pointed out, incredibly close. The result there, whether its for former Vice President biden or the president will be a very, very small margin. We are awaiting that, probably some time tomorrow for some clarification. Nevada, the former Vice President s lead continues to hold. The vote outstanding is in the northern part of the state, washoe county, in the southern part, clark county, generally a democratic strong hold. Were expecting more updates tonight. One last thing, norah in pennsylvania the reason the votes are coming in a bit slower is because the Republican Legislature there would not allow the early processing of mailin ballot. If they had, we would have these vote in much earlier. Odonnell Major Garrett, thank you. Joining me tonight gayle king, john dickerson, nancy cordes and ed okeefe. Lots ahead. First i want to go to weijia jiang, who is standing by at the white house to update us on we saw the president for other first time today in, like, two days, and he made a number of acswrags not backed up by the facts. Reporter norah, in his first public remarks since election night, youre right, President Trump made several false statements attacking the integrity of the election, tiaiming that fraudulent voting would lead it it being stolen from him. There is no evidence of that. Mr. Trump also questioned why all the mailin ballots seem to be, in his words, onesided, favoring joe biden. But, remember, he spent several weeks urging his supporters nothe to vote by mail and to do it in person instead. Mr. Trump also said all the officials overseeing the ballot counting in battleground states are part of a corrupt democrat machine, even though the secretaries of state in georgia and nevada are republican. He vowed to fight the results in court, even suggesting that the Supreme Court would intervene. Its going to end up, perhaps at the highest court in the land. Well see. But we think there will be a lot of litigation, because we cant have an election stolen like this. Reporter but so far, the Supreme Court has not taken up any electionrelated cases. And its unclear that it will. The Trump Campaign has filed other lawsuits in key states, but today, judges in georgia and michigan, toted two of them out. Still, President Trump is not backing down. Cbs news has learned he does not plan to concede, even if joe biden declares a victory in the c coming days. Norah. Odonnell all right, weijia jiang, thank you. And as weijia mentioned, the Trump Campaign has filed multiple lawsuits in pennsylvania, trying to stop the counting of votes. The president s lead in the keystone state, once 600,000 votes, has now dwindled to less than a tenth of that. Joining us now is pennsylvanias attorney general, josh shapiro. Mr. Attorney general, thank you so much for joining us. I wanted to ask you about that, the Trump Campaign filing that lawsuits today asking philadelphia to stop the counting. Will that happen . No. Look, theres been a lot of activity but really no change. The ballots are being counted. Public servant in our communities are doing their best sureollow the law and make sure that all these legal votes are coun counted. Heres the deal on the legal front. The Trump Campaign asked for the counting to stop and to allow their poll watchers to get a little bit closer to view the action. And, essentially, what a judge said was they could move from 10 feet to about six feet. In addition to that, they talked about going up to the United States Supreme Court and ask to intervene in a case that on two separate occasions, the u. S. Supreme court refused to take up. And this is the matter thats already been heard by our state Supreme Court about ballots that were legally cast prior to election day and mailed but not received until about three days after. And then one of the other big legal issues, literally, norah, affects not a single voter in pennsylvania. It was about when you need identification to come and prove a challenge ballot. Not one voter in pennsylvania is impacted by that. So i realize theres a lot of chatter, theres a lot of noise, but theres been no legal impact. These ballots are valid. Theyre lawful. And theyre being counted in pennsylvania. Odonnell josh, i want to also ask you, because President Trump said that the states left counting has voting apparatus run by democrats. Hes actually wrong because georgia is run by a republican. But how can you reassure americans of the integrity of pennsylvanias system . Theres no democratic or republican way to count a legal vote. These are clerks and volunteers, and people from our community who are doing a Public Service to open envelopes, to scan ballots, to run them through the Computer Systems and to have them counted. Thats whats happening here. And i think what we need to do is stop the rhetoric. The campaign is over. We need to follow the law, count the votes, and respect the will of the people here in pennsylvania and across the country, whatever or whom ever they choose. Reporter mr. Shapiro, gayle king here. Hi, gayle. Reporter hello. What concerns you most, this morning when you were with us on cbs this morning, you said your kids were saying, dad, when are we going to know . When are we going to know in . Were also asking, dad, when are we going to know . And what concerns you the most. And do you have any idea when we will know the final count in pennsylvania . Gayle, im not concerned. There has been a ton of litigation on this in the weeks leading up to the campaign. We battled back and protected the laws of this commonwealth and protected every eligible vote. We won every single lawsuits. We were prepared on election day. We had a smooth election day. And now were having a smooth counting process. And, yes, my kids and i guess all other americans want to know when its going to be done. Its taking time. Its slow. But we want to get it right. We want to follow the law. Upthink the gentleman who set up this segme this segment correctly pointed out that it was the republicans in the legislature who refused to change the law, just tweak it, to allow these county Public Servant to begin processing these ballot earlier so we could give americans the answer theyve been waiting for. In terms of when youre going to get an answer, the secretary of state has indicated and i think shes right about this that by tomorrow, hopefully by early to midday, youre going to have an acrack picture, generally speaking, of where things stand. You wont have all the ballots counted but i think youll have a better sense of where things stand in pennsylvania by tomorrow. Odonnell all right, pennsylvania attorney, josh shapiro, thank you very much for joining us, and the news we may get movie those results tomorrow from the state of pennsylvania. Wesht also note that we heard from joe biden earlier today. He struck a very different tone when he spoke briefly in delaware, essentially telling americans to trust the process. I ask everyone to stay calm, all people to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed. And well know very soon. Odonnell cbs Nikole Killion joins us now from wilmington. And, nikole, what are you hearing from bidens advisers . Reporter well, norah, were not expecting to see or hear further from the former Vice President , at least from this venue tonight, but the main message from the campaign is what you heard the, trust the process. Thats why you heard the former Vice President to urge patience. He did say he has no doubt that he and his running mate, senator kamala harris, will prevail. And because they are so close to 270, his Campaign Manager said she expected these number numbeo fluctuate and to tighten and at the end of the day it really doesnt matter what state takes p. Em over the top. As for President Trumps comments earlier this evening, several Biden Campaign officials dismissed them with one aide telling me, its desperate and baseless. Norah. Odonnell all right, Nikole Killion, thank you. I want to bring everybody in here. I mean, just as were sitting here talking, the vote count in some of these states is getting even more narrow. In georgia i was just told it narrowed even further to just 1700 votes there. Thats a rubyred republican state and now it looks like jubd is gaining ground there. Reporter thats right. Its getting very close in the states. What the president was doing is trying to make that winnowing, that that whittling down seem suspicious. It is a part of the normal rhythm of elections. Now, elections arent this close in so many states, but it is a part of the normal rhythm that happens in an election. To use a sports metaphor, the scoreboard is not the final score. The president is trying to say fact that the scoreboard might be different than the final score is a problem. Thats not the problem. Thats the way it works. And lets think about pennsylvania, just very quickly. Philadelphia, the county thats coming in, is such a democratic district, it hasnt voted for a republican since 1932. It should be no surprise to anyone that votes coming in from that area would whittle down the president s lead. Thats normal. Hes trying to make it seem sinister. Odonnell well, it seems as if this could be coming to a conclusion tomorrow. Senior biden aide i talked to tonight said they now believe tomorrow morning is when pennsylvania very likely could end up showing him ahead of the president , and in a way that news organizations that project these things, including cbs, would be comfortable enough to give him the state, and, therefore, give him 270plus. And it is a mark of the strategy that they had, that we sit here tonight, and hes got a few options on getting to 270. When the president really only has one. Odonnell gayle, you heard the president today. He was really seen to be pushing back against this idea that this has been a legal and fair process. And i think its unfortunate, because hes leading people to believe, his supporters in particular, that something nefarious is happening here. And we set it up from the very beginning, right here at this table, all of us said its going to be a long night, possibly, unless it was a blowout, and very few that it would be a blowout, that it would take some time, that it may take a couple of days. Now its like trying to call the game in the seventh inning or kids in the car going, are we there yet . Are we there yet . Its really tracking the way it was supposed to. And the difference joe biden has said compared to what donald trump has said is changing peoples expectations. If you listen, joe biden is calling for calm, the process is working. You just heard josh shapiro say the process is working. We just have to let it work. By the way, you can watch the process work. Odonnell literally. Exactly. Theres this agitation about poll watchers, but you can look in, look on the screen now. Those are people doing the actual counting, because for a long period of time, the states have set up systems to make sure that these ballots are counted accurately. And its taking a long time because theyre checking twice. Theyre being very careful about it. Theyre volunteers, john, your aunt, uncle, brother, sister these are regular people doing their civic duty. Something to celebrate in america North Carolina the something to be made to seem sinister. Exactly. After the president came out this evening and said there was something sinister going on, the cavalry rushed in to back him up or the enablers, dmending on how you look at it. Lindsey graham said philadelphia elections are crooked as a snake and dead people are voting there. He said he trusts arizona but he doesnt trust philadelphia, he doesnt trust nevada. Hard to see what the distinction would be because the same distinction is going on there. Tommy tuberville, who won the eenate race in alabama, said the elec Election Results are out of control, and the referees are suddenly adding touchdowns to the other teams side. Just to be clear, none of them had any evidence of this. Its the excitement of emotion. No evidence whatsoever. But it shows theyre willing to come to the president s defense, even when he isnt providing any evidence. Now, i should say, there are a lot more republicans who aring out and saying that the president is going too far. I mean, you heard from will hurd, a very wellrespected congressman from texas saying what he is doing is dangerous and wrong and undermining the Foundation Foundation that this nation was built upon. Larry hogan, the governor of maryland, saying theres no defense for the president s comments, undermining the democratic process. And adam kinsinger, a congressman from illinois, never afraid to criticize this president , even though hes a republican, said stop spreading debunked information. This is getting insane. Has Mitch Mcconnell said anything . No. That was my point. Its one thing to hear from the green room creatures or the most loyal President Trump supporters. Its another to hear from the rest of the republican party. Weve yet to hear from those leaders. Mitch mcconnell said something much more benign. He sid all the votes need to be counted. We need to let the process work its way through the system, but he did not criticize the president. Odonnell since we are in the business of facts here at cbs news we do like facts. Odonnell i want to bring in in our cbs news contributor and elections law expert, david becker. David, i know you have been talking to secretaries of state, scouring all the lawsuits that are out there. Is there any evidence of fraud or illegal balloting at this stage . Absolutely not. In fact, i think its safe to say that during this pandemic, we actually had one of the most successful, smooth elections in american history, which is remarkable. And a tremendous testament to all of the Election Officials out there republicans and democrats who are working to count every vote. I mean, there were some really bizarre statements made in the press Conference Today by the president , and john i think hit the nail on the head hes tr trying to make this whittling down of margins seem sinister in pennsylvania and georgia, where ballots were validly cast, received by election day or before. At the same time, in arizona and nevada, he is relying upon those same mail ballots to whittle down his deficit in those states. Theres a c

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