Dick Cheney will vote for Kamala Harris, Liz Cheney says Dick Cheney, your father, a beloved figure among Democrats, for many, many years. do you, if you know who he will be supporting or who he'll be voting for? Would you care to share with us who he might be voting for? Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris. Wow. Words I never expected to hear. Yeah, yeah. you know, if you, think about, the moment that we're in and, and you think about, how serious this moment is, you know, my dad believes, and he has said publicly that, there's never been an individual in our country who is as grave a threat to our democracy as Donald Trump is. And, and that's that's the moment that we're facing. CNN’s Jake Tapper talks to his panel of political experts reacting to the endorsement Former Republican congresswoman, staunch Trump critic Liz Cheney, making that news earlier today in Texas that her father, the very Republican, very conservative vice president, two terms is going to vote for progressive Democrat Kamala Harris. I'm back with my panel. Joining us is former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is a Trump critic as well. Your reaction? Listen, I'm not surprised. Liz Cheney, as someone who put her career on the line to do what was right. she has been a vocal critic of the former president since January 6th, and she's endorsed Democrats before. she supported Abigail Spanberger. Elissa Slotkin. I think this is noteworthy. We've talked a lot this election about the so-called Nikki Haley voters, this roughly 20%. It's like you have primary voters who voted turn out to vote against Trump in the primary, and even kept voting after Nikki Haley was out of the race. Those voters are better understood as Liz Cheney voters. They're people who are reliable Republicans, probably with them in 2016, probably with them in 2020. But January 6th was a bridge too far. Not supporting Ukraine is a bridge too far, and that's enough voters to potentially sway the election. What do you think? Well, President Trump has the support of Nikki Haley. So if I'm working on the Trump campaign, she spoke at the RNC, I would deploy Nikki Haley into the seven battleground states that actually matter to make sure that they're shoring up the vote. And we've seen her out there on the stump. So does a Liz Cheney and a Dick Cheney endorsement for Vice President Harris matter? I would argue probably not, because those Nikki Haley voters, the fresher, newer ones, are already going to probably be with Trump. She's with them, too. What do you think? Oh, the Dick Cheney endorsement is actually the one that seems to be shocking and a reminder of how far we have come from the grand old party of even the Bush administration. And to have someone like Cheney and Kamala Harris effectively on the same side is a better understanding of the risks to American democracy and national security. I mean,
we have Trump's own former chief of staff, former defense secretary, former generals, all talking about how he is a risk to national security. And now to have Dick Cheney come and remind us of that is, I think, very compelling. And that's a key. Looked like you looked like you wanted to say something. Look,
I think that voters are really concerned about the economy. I think endorsements are fun. It's a good flavor of the day. We had RFK a couple of weeks ago. Nobody's talking about it anymore. The page is going to turn here pretty quickly, and I don't think that a Liz Cheney or a Vice President Cheney endorsement is going to change the trajectory of this way. An endorsement, maybe not necessarily. But Alyssa, react to this because it's not just a pledge to vote for Kamala Harris. Liz Cheney said she's going to hit the campaign trail. Take a listen. I'm not a campaign surrogate. I'm not, you know, officially, I'm not, you know, technically out there as a surrogate. but, absolutely going to be, in many key battleground states, very much focused on, how important it is that we defeat him in this cycle. So if she if she goes to, let's say, Georgia, Arizona, and, I don't know, Scranton, Pennsylvania, you know, part of the, the Reagan Democrat parts of, Michigan. I mean, she could create a permission structure for Republicans to vote for Harris, I guess. Well, and that's it's not just, by the way, Republicans vote for Harris. It's undecided. Swing voters, moderates, independent suburban women. think of Georgia, which Biden won by only 11,000 votes. Having a former popular lieutenant governor like Jeff Duncan, a lifelong Republican who looks out of central casting, say it's okay to be with a Democrat this time because democracy is on the line. Support our allies is on the line. Having a Liz Cheney, a name that is associated with being a Republican, much longer than Donald Trump's name, has been out in Pennsylvania saying, hey, this is about turning the page on the past, on the chaos, on the drama that could absolutely work in these tight margin states. And if specifically and Alyssa, you were talking about this earlier is to the down ballot tickets as well. It's not just a Harris play. This is about the different Senate candidates and making sure that that margin doesn't change or just swings Democratic next cycle. I think we need to pay attention to turnout to bring this full circle. President Trump had the incredible ability to turn people out to vote in 2016. Zero for voters, as we call them, they don't regularly participate. And what do they have to do? They have to make up the margin here. So I think digging into some of those rural counties where people don't typically participate, that's the challenge. And that's what Trump has to do to offset this. and let's talk about the debate now, because, Alyssa, you spoke earlier with Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro on The View and he said this. Listen, as much as we want to criticize Donald Trump, he's a liar. He's all these things. I think you said it before. People know Donald Trump. He is a skilled debater. He is a guy who is willing to say anything at any time just to get through a question. And he's a showman. He's been on TV before, so don't underestimate Donald Trump. So Donald Trump has been doing presidential debates since 2015. He did that in 2015, 2016, 2022. And now he's about to do his second one this year against a second opponent. folks shouldn't underestimate him. This is a man who came up in the world of television mass communicating to audiences. There is a world in which you get the Hannibal Lecter shouting out the Proud Boys off the rails, Donald Trump. But I think it's far more likely you're going to get somebody who's trying to entertain, keep people's focus, and is going to hit on the few issues that he really succeeds on border security and the economy. The worst thing the Harris campaign could do is underestimate him going into it, because he's proven he is capable of getting through these debates. I would argue he actually had a pretty successful second debate against Joe Biden last time. If that Donald Trump shows up, that's that's much tougher for Harris. Yeah.
And she just experience wise does not have the experience when it comes to doing these debates that he does on air hockey Ashley at Stevenson Alyssa Fair Griffin thanks one and all for being here. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and his political panel break down how much of an impact the endorsement will have on Trump and Harris’ campaign Another very prominent Republican is now set to vote for Kamala Harris for president of the United States. And that would be the former vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney. Cheney just issued a statement confirming his plans, first revealed by his daughter, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who also has set to vote for Kamala Harris. Dick Cheney, your father, a beloved figure among Democrats, for many, many years. do you, if you know who he will be supporting or who he'll be voting for, would you care to share with us who he might be voting for? Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris. Well, my dad believes and he has said publicly that, there's never been an individual in our country who is as grave a threat to our democracy as Donald Trump is. Our political experts are here with their reaction. And John King, you and I have covered Dick Cheney for a long time. We know him well. how significant is this? Well, it's a huge deal. That does not mean it will have a huge impact in the sense that Donald Trump has changed the Republican Party, and he has spent his time as the leader of the Republican Party, running against people like Dick Cheney, like the Bush family, like Liz Cheney, and especially because of her role in the January 6th Committee, however. So it wasn't gonna have a huge impact is the, you know, is the 33, 34% of the Republicans who are firmly committed Trump base. They're going to say, oh, let me think about this again. No. However, we're in an election that is going to be decided again by 40,000 people in Wisconsin and 150,000 people in Michigan in 180,000, 80,000 or so people in Pennsylvania, maybe it's 11,000 votes in Georgia, 10,000 votes in Arizona. And so anyone listening to Liz Cheney or Dick Cheney, there are a lot of right in my travels or a lot of Reagan Republicans who are most uncomfortable with Donald Trump as the leader of their party. They might like their taxes cut. They might think he'll close the border, but they don't like his character, that they think he's toxic. They think his tone is mean. They think he doesn't treat people fairly. So you don't have to have a huge impact if you can. If Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney can move a couple hundred votes there and then somebody else, this election will be decided on the margin. So it's not going to cause this groundswell, but it could have an impact in the suburbs. And with Reagan Republicans who just get queasy when they see Donald Trump and, Dick Cheney has just released a formal statement, a public statement explaining why he's decided to do this. John,
let me read a little bit of that statement in our nation. This is Dick Cheney in our nation's 248 year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again. As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above Partizanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. That's a blistering statement. Longtime member of Congress, conservative Jerry Ford, Republican, then the defense secretary, you know, and then the vice president, United States. So, again, he's essentially saying, Republicans look yourself in the mirror. This guy's a threat to democracy. You have to put your country above your party. And again, Donald Trump like he does, he poisons the well. He makes people persona non grata so people won't listen to them. That's why he constantly attacks his critics so that his voters won't listen to them. So we'll have we'll have to see as you go through it. But again, my point is it doesn't take much. It doesn't take much in the margins of this election. And this is an opportunity. This is a big debate next week. This is an opportunity for the vice president to to talk to Republican voters to to your Nikki Haley primary voters, to Reagan Bush voters, to people who don't like Donald Trump to say, you might not like me. You might not know me very well. I'm a Democrat. You may not have voted for me before, and you might not want to vote for a Democrat. But please listen to these respected figures in your former party, who think Donald Trump is a threat, and she's already told Dana Bash that she would put a Republican in her cabinet. So she's trying to talk to these people who may be undecided and on the fence. And while Dick Cheney isn't going to cause any kind of a groundswell, Liz Cheney isn't going to cause any kind of a groundswell. She's joining other Republicans. it is these people on the margins. And I think that Kamala Harris ought to talk about it a little bit, because Dick Cheney was Darth Vader to the Democratic Party. That was his name. And he even said his role was after nine over 11. I had an interview with him not long after I live where he said, my role now is Darth Vader. He said,
somebody has to always take the darkest to you. Are we going to be attacked again? He said, you know, you might be wrong when you take that view, but somebody has to always represent that view in the room to protect the country. So whatever you think of in politically, he is a patriot. He served his country in public service for a long time. So again, does that get the attention of enough people? We'll see. But it does. It does force a little bit of thought. And again, I think it gives the vice president a very powerful personal testament lesson to Dick Cheney. Listen to Liz Cheney, even if you have a hard time listening. Very, very it's not George. It's not George W Bush doing it again. I just had to it's not just Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney. It's also 40 plus people that served in the Trump administration, some of those the closest to the former president, even his national security advisers, others that are saying he should be nowhere near the resolute desk in the Oval Office. I mean, I think with this also puts a spotlight on Liz Cheney. He's done effectively, which is, you know, highlight the silence of Republicans. How can you call yourself a patriot? And defend four indictments about the most egregious offenses against American democracy? How can you do that? She also put a spotlight on the fact that Republicans know that that Trump is reprehensible, but they're not doing anything about it. They're not going to go out in public and represent him. And what they continue to do is mislead the public. That was not in their self-interest right now. They believe, oh, guys, hold on a second, Scott. What about the country? Scott Jennings is with us as well. Scott, does Dick Cheney's a decision to vote for Kamala Harris give a permission slip to other Republicans out there who may be on the fence right now about Trump? Does it give him a permission slip to go ahead and vote for Kamala Harris? Well, I think if you're a national security Republican, if that's something that you know, on which you solely base your vote, obviously Cheney's worldview on that front is dramatically different than Trump and a lot of the people who support Trump. So, you know, if if there are voters out there who look at those issues solely, which are very few, maybe, you know, I, I Revere Dick Cheney, I work for Dick Cheney. I served in the Bush White House, when he was vice president, United States and, deeply respect him. I think what most Republicans would say is a this statement's a little hyperbolic, be that there is as much to fear of a policy future under Kamala Harris and possibly Democratic control of the Senate, as there is to fear from, what you're mad about that Donald Trump has done in the past. And so my suspicion is most Republicans are going to say I would I'm just not prepared to turn the country over, to people who previously served for the last 20 years called you a war criminal. I don't want to turn the country over to them, because I fear what you know, then jerking the country to the left. So I think a lot of people in Washington will take note of this. Well, working class people in Pennsylvania take note of it. yeah.
But let's not forget, Dick Cheney said there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. Those were his words. Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks out following his daughter’s announcement of his endorsement, confirming he will be voting for Kamala Harris Dick Cheney, the breaking news. Another big Republican name backing Kamala Harris tonight. That's the former vice president, Dick Cheney, who says he will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. The statement was just released from Dick Cheney, in which he writes, in our nation's 248 year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence. He can never be trusted with power again. As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partizanship to defend our Constitution. And that is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. Obviously, Dick Cheney, I mean, was someone who was reviled by the left, reviled. I mean, we served as George W Bush as Vice President George H.W. Bush's defense secretary, Gerald Ford as chief of staff for ten years as a Republican congressman instrumental to the Iraq War. And even as Harris is hunkering down for debate prep in Pittsburgh tonight, she is on the airwaves, not directly capitalizing on this moment, but going after Trump aggressively. So in an interview on Univision Radio, which reaches 18 million people, she said this. You know, this, this person who has talked about how immigrants poison the blood of America, this person who seeks to divide our nation, belittling people, belittling members of the military for goodness sake, Harris going after him directly, not obliquely in any way. It is direct on the nose again and again. As for Trump today, he chose another target to attack. Frankly, I know you're going to say it's a terrible thing to say, but it couldn't have happened. It didn't happen, and she would not have been the chosen one. She would not have been the Chosen one. At a time when he is trying desperately to win over women voters, Trump today chose this time to insult a different person, Jessica Leeds. If you don't remember that name, she is one of the women who accused him of sexual misconduct. So instead of focusing on Harris, he was talking, about her and in an insult, insulting her looks part of a 45 minute rant outside a New York courthouse. It was out of a known Trump playbook. Every one of these cases, it's political interference. It's a witch hunt. Just like the fake Russia. It's a hoax. It's a scam. It's a political witch hunt. But it is not just today's event where Trump went off message. Listen to Trump yesterday at an official event which was about the economy here. He was actually talking about addressing the high cost of childcare. That was the question. Here's the answer. I have to say with childcare, I want to stay with childcare. But those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I'm talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just, that I just told you about, we're going to be taking in trillions of dollars and as much as childcare, is talked about as being expensive, it's, relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers who will be taking it. Did you trying to say that it would be affordable? These public appearances are not getting Trump the headlines that his campaign necessarily want. In August, as we mentioned, he raised $130 million, which it sounds like a lot. It is, though less than he raised in July, and Harris raised nearly three times that during the month. So that is the context. According to her campaign, the vice president brought in $361 million in the same time frame that Trump brought in 130. And Harris, his team is already putting that massive amount of money to work. They say they're planning 2000 events across the country. They're purchased right now in campaign ads. Already $370 million in committed money. MJ Lee is OutFront live outside the white House and MJ Trump off message today talking about Jessica Leeds. And you know she wouldn't have been the chosen one. I guess if he were choosing who he was going to, have a sexual relationship with. I mean, this is where he was today. I know you have some new reporting, though, about what Harris has been doing with her time. In addition to those interviews, a lot of debate prep. What are you learning specifically about what she's doing? Well, Aaron, as you know, the Harris campaign could not have been clearer that they were not fans of the muted Mike rule, but we did see earlier this week they did begrudgingly accept the rule that the mics would be muted when a candidate is not speaking, but without once again complaining that they believe that this is going to be disadvantage advantageous for the vice president. what a source tells me is that her best moments are when she's drilling down on somebody. So we've lost that. It takes a big thing off the table for us. so now, as the vice president, as you said, is hunkering down in Pittsburgh for the next stretch of days to really focus on debate prep, I am told by the source at a big mission for that team is going to be figuring out how to remedy for the fact that her mic is going to be muted. You know, when you talk to Harris allies, they will often point to a moment in hearing committees, committee hearings. Excuse me. when she was senator, when she would grill people like Brett Kavanaugh, like Bill Barr, and really showing that prosecutorial side of her. And this is exactly what they had hoped the vice president would be able to do on the debate stage with Donald Trump that is, responding to him, questioning him, even interrupting him in real time and showing that side of her that she now, they believe, can't do as freely given that the mics are going to be muted. the other piece of this, of course, is that they believe that with the mics now being off, that that is not going to display sort of the more unhinged, side of Donald Trump that they were hoping that they would be able to show the public next week. So all of these things are things that they are trying to remedy for again, again, they've been very clear that this is not a rule that they are happy with. But again, they felt like they had to accept it, for this debate to continue. All right, MJ, thank you very much. All right.
So let's have a conversation about where we are. Aisha, let me start with you, Dick Cheney. So, you know, Liz Cheney came out and gave her endorsement. Now her father, Dick Cheney, coming out and saying, you know, in our 248 year history of America, there's never been an individual who is a greater threat to our Republican Donald Trump. I would bet that had I said to you
even a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago, that you'd be sitting here being like, Thank God, I love Dick Cheney. You told me I was on La La Land. okay. But but but let me just ask you, are you excited about this endorsement? Does this help? Well,
you could knock me over with a feather. I honestly, I don't think that anyone would thought that we would have seen the day that Dick Cheney, of all people, would come out so viciously against his own party. So let's just talk about that. This is as much of an indictment on the current state of Donald Trump's party right now as anything, but then to also abandon the party and then go affirmatively for the Democrats. It really just tells you the dire straits that they are in and the danger that Donald Trump presents, if, in fact, you know,
we were to let him enter the white House again. So, Scott, obviously, I know you're you're close with the Cheneys. You've known them for a long time. You're friends with Liz Cheney. you shared these photos of the two of you together with us. you know, there's you and Liz Cheney. I know you were close in your time in Congress. Dick Cheney did an event for you as well as someone in the military. I know that, you know, you know, women in many capacities. so so what do you think of this when you hear him say, this is the individual? There's never been there's never been an individual to Donald Trump that's a greater threat to our republic. He can never be trusted with power again. And I'm casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. Does it give you any pause? No. listen, let me first let me first say I have respect for the former vice president. And obviously, Liz, we were close when we were in Congress. you know, both of them. And they're entitled to their opinions and who they want to support and not support, and I just, I, I, I disagree with them. I deeply disagree with what they're doing. I don't think it moves the needle at all, to be honest with you. And it's, you know, Kamala Harris, vice the vice president, her policies and positions are in direct, confrontation of the values that the former vice president and Liz have 100%. And so and my personal opinion is their positions and their policies hers. Kamala's the vice president are much more dangerous for the future of this nation than them. President Trump, of course. So, you know, when we look at the how this is all playing out, obviously the Cheney don't have any effect on the on the fundraising numbers that we have thus far, that's for sure. But the numbers for August came out of the Harris campaign right last night. We had heard it would be more than double Trump's August haul. We'd seen some numbers out there that that on other outlets that she had around 300 million. But the actual number came out way more than that, 361 million nearly triple, so nearly triple the number of amount of money raised in one month. She also has $100 million more than Trump in cash. So, you know, when you look at it that way, too, it's like, okay, look, I mean, if it comes down to money, we're done here. Is it that simple? Is that for me? It's never that simple. In politics. Money helps. Money will allow Kamala Harris in her campaign to try to reach more voters, including some of those Republicans like Dick Cheney, people who aren't used to getting mailers and ads, from Democrats aren't used to hearing an appeal directly from Democrats in their communities. This money will allow Kamala Harris, who has a much bigger, larger, more advanced operation, in terms of turning out the vote than Donald Trump does, it will allow them to continue to power that operation, which is huge. It's a huge machine. And whether or not that machine is able to overcome the momentum that Donald Trump has not because he has a lot of offices or a lot of staff in these states. But because people genuinely decide that they want to vote for him. People think that, he is their standard bearer. He's the person that represents them. They came out in large numbers in 2020 and in 2016. Whether or not, you know, the machinery and the money behind Kamala Harris can overcome some of the momentum that Donald Trump has had over the course of his career. That is a question that remains to be seen. But the money definitely helps. And it shows that Kamala Harris has momentum behind her as well. Right.