Do Democrats still want Nancy Pelosi to be House Speaker?
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. reacts to party's frustration over loss of seats on 'Your World'
Nov. 6, 2020 – This is a rush transcript from “Your World with Neil Cavuto” November 6, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Well, it is the end of this election weekend.
And by now, we thought we would have a future president to tell you about.
We do not. Joe Biden leads the president in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada.
The president is holding his own in North Carolina. But, so far, so far, neither gentleman has the 270 electoral votes needed to be named to the next president of the United States or the president-elect.
Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto. And this is YOUR WORLD.
And what in the world will Joe Biden be saying when he addresses the nation four hours from now? We know he is going to be speaking from Wilmington, Delaware. And some people are saying he will be armed with another state or too called in his direction.
But even if that is not the case, because that could change things mightily and give him the electoral votes needed to claim that he is the president- elect of the United States, but, barring that, what is the point of the address tonight? Again, does he know something we do not?
We are following a lot of fast-moving developments, including some RNC statements we're going to be getting out of Atlanta, Georgia, a hearing on things and how they're going in Nevada.
But, for now, we're getting a gauge of what the president is thinking right now, amid, well, a lot of legal challenges on just how this count is going and where it is going, enough for Wall Street to call a draw by the end of the day, but a very, very strong week, buoyed by the belief that, at the very least, we're going to see divided government, which those guys in money land tend to love.
All right let's get to John Roberts first with what the White House is looking at right now as we get into the weekend -- John.
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Neil, good afternoon to you.
With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris speaking tonight, we're still waiting to see if President Trump and perhaps Mike Pence might come out this evening.
We do not know if they will do that.
One of the problems is that there's not a lot new for the president to say today if he comes out publicly. Even the statement that was released through his campaign today didn't move the needle a whole lot from what he said last evening in the Briefing Room.
In a statement, the president saying -- quote -- "We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency to all vote counting and election certification, and that this is no longer about any single election. This is about the integrity of our entire election process. We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government. I will never give up fighting for you and our nation."
As Joe Biden keeps increasing his margins in the Silver State, a federal judge in Nevada will hold a hearing this afternoon, this evening our time, to consider a Republican lawsuit claiming a lack of access to vote counting and allegations that people who were not eligible to did cast ballots.
Listen to what Matt Schlapp said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: I want every ballot that's illegal ballot to be counted. I just want to make sure that there's not a systematic fraud process where you can't pull out the fraudulent ballots.
We have 3,000 people in Nevada, from our research, 3,000 votes in Nevada from people who don't live in Nevada. That is a huge problem. And this system allowed that to happen. And we're not allowed in to raise objections during the process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You know, one thing we should point out, too, in that list of some
3,000 people, there were a number of military service members who may be stationed outside of Nevada, but still eligible to vote in Nevada.
We do appear to be headed to a recount in several states, Georgia, potentially Pennsylvania, which you're looking at right there, the president predicting that the eventual outcome of this election will be left up to the courts.
Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have claimed certain states, and he's claiming states. And we can both claim the states.
But, ultimately, I have a feeling judges are going to have to rule. But there's been a lot of shenanigans. And we can't stand for that in our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: We may be on the edge of a similar situation to that which we saw in 2000, with a recount going on, the ultimate outcome of the election is still up in the air.
But, meantime, both teams back then head transition teams put together just in case one or the other won. Obviously, President Trump does not need a transition team. But the Biden campaign, Neil, has already announced that it provisionally will be putting together a transition team, which will start working on the process pending the outcome of all of this that we see going on.
CAVUTO: Yes, which could be a ways off.
Thank you very much, John Roberts, at the White House.
Let's go to Jacqui Heinrich right now. She's with team Biden here. And we're still not exactly sure what he is going to be saying tonight, just that, at 8:00 p.m., he's going to be saying something.
Jacqui, what is it?
JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Neil, it does feel like Groundhog Day out here. This set behind me was for you know what they hope to be a victory speech back on Tuesday. They have been doing mic checks since then.
They did one little while ago, just like they did yesterday. But the difference tonight is, we will hear from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris around 8:00, they expect, in what they believe, we believe, if there is the data there, they are expecting to be a victory speech.
The margins are holding in those key battlegrounds they expected to win.
They feel so comfortable, in fact, they didn't even hold a press briefing today, because yesterday's information still holds.
I talked to the campaign's foremost lawyer, Bob Bauer. He says there is really no worry at all that any of these lawsuits delay the process, because the cases have no merit. At yesterday's briefing, the campaign ticked off a number of cases and the reasons why they were tossed out by the courts.
Meantime, Biden is still waiting for the votes to be counted before he makes any sort of declaration out here, but he fully expects to become the president-elect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience as well. But that patience has been rewarded now for more than 240 years with a system of governance that's been the envy of the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEINRICH: Now, the Biden campaign is also reminding folks the president can be evicted from the White House if he refuses to concede after he was announced today he doesn't have any plans for that even if the race is called.
A campaign spokesman told me: "As we said on July 19, the American people will decide this election and the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House."
And one campaign source told me last night they were watching the president's remarks. They thought that it was a clear indication that he was getting desperate, sure sign he's losing, and they said his claims are baseless -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, thank you very much for that, Jacqui Heinrich.
Then to Pennsylvania right now. That could decide a lot of this, at least the course of it. It's still too close to call, and no one is calling it.
Grady Trimble now with more from Philadelphia -- Grady.
GRADY TRIMBLE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, Joe Biden's lead has been growing throughout the day, as mail-in ballots are still being counted here at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, as well as other parts of the state.
Want to show you the latest numbers, Joe Biden currently with a lead of just under 15,000 votes. Meanwhile, about a block from where we are, protests have continued for the third day in a row. You have anti-Trump count every vote protesters and pro-Trump demonstrators who agree with the president's claims that this election is somehow rigged and that there's cheating by Democrats.
Philadelphia's Democratic mayor calls those claims baseless. And, well, he has some harsh words for the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM KENNEY (D), MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA: To acknowledge the fact that he lost and he needs to congratulate the winner, just as Jimmy Carter did, justice as George H.W. Bush did, and frankly, just as Al Gore did, and stop this, and let us move forward as a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TRIMBLE: Statewide, there are still 112,000 mail-in votes that still have to be counted.
John mentioned recounts. And what would trigger recount here as if the margin is at half-a-percent or closer when this race ends. Of course, those mail-in ballots still being counted. That could tip the scales even further in Joe Biden's favor, but we will have to see.
One thing that is for sure is that there is a long protracted legal battle ahead -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, Grady, thank you very, very much.
You want have caught from Grady's report there what the Philadelphia bear had to say about the president putting his big boy pants on and conceding, just like Al Gore did. Of course, Al Gore waited some 30 days to do that, because they were in the middle of counting the votes.
And we thought that was a good opportunity to go back 20 years ago, juxtapose where we are today, and to look at some similarities just switched on the part of the parties. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Our goal is to defend the integrity of the election.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What is at stake is the integrity of our democracy.
ERIC TRUMP, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: We are going to file suit in Pennsylvania. It's a shame that we have to do that. It's the last thing that we wanted to do. It's the last thing my father wanted to do, but this is rampant corruption. And it can't happen.
RON KLAIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: We're not here because we wanted to be in court. We're not here because our efforts to get lawful votes tabulated were cut off by partisan efforts.
PAM BONDI, MEMBER OF PRESIDENT TRUMP'S DEFENSE TEAM: Why do we care about the rest of the votes? Because it is about the integrity of this election.
And every vote, as Mayor Giuliani said, in every state must be counted fairly.
DAVID BOIES, ATTORNEY, AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR EQUAL RIGHTS: The legitimacy of any president that's elected is going to be impaired unless the American people understand that there has been a full and fair count of all the votes.
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: We deserve better.
And we're not leaving until we witness every single vote that transpires.
WARREN CHRISTOPHER, FORMER GORE CAMPAIGN REPRESENTATIVE: The importance of getting it right outweighs the importance of rushing to judgment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: You know, one of the benefits of being among the older anchors here at FOX is, nothing is really new again. And I remember that distinctly 20 years ago.
We should keep that perspective on for Democrats back then who are saying we need a full and fair count, and Republicans who thought it was a waste of time, and the rolls from reversed 20 years later, where each are arguing from the opposite position.
It is understandable it is politics, but it is at its core about counting the vote. It was important 20 years ago. It is important now.
So, again, getting away from the political extremes and all the heat of the moment, I thought it'd be a good time to bring in John Yoo, the former deputy assistant attorney general, on what he makes of this.
Counting the vote, making sure we got it right, to say nothing of some of the other charges of malfeasance and all of that, I get some of the hostility raised because of that.
But these are close states. A few of them are going to have recounts as a result of how close they are. So what's wrong with letting the process play itself out, John?
JOHN YOO, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Neil, you're making me feel old too, because I was there 20 years ago in Tallahassee. I think that's the first time I was on that new network FOX News.
(LAUGHTER)
YOO: But you have got it exactly right.
It's the same issue. The sides are reversed. But the issue is the same.
It's because, it's such a close election, that we do have to worry then about a few thousand votes, exactly how they're counted, doing it transparently, and letting everybody have access to the courts if they need to defend their rights to vote or so on.
But the interesting thing that you pointed out in your lead-in is that the roles are kind of reversed, because Biden's ahead now. Biden is in the position that George W. Bush was in 20 years ago.
CAVUTO: Right.
YOO: When you're ahead, you want the vote to finish and you want it to get certified. Once it is, it's hard for the other side to dislodge that.
CAVUTO: Now, we don't know for sure, John, what Joe Biden is going to say tonight. If all things are equal, and it's the count as it stands now, 264 electoral votes, he technically doesn't have the 270 he will need.
Maybe someone's going to call a state or two. Any one of these states being called for him would cement the deal and make him president-elect. I get that.
But, barring that, is there any risk in his saying anything that advances this to, hey, I have won?
YOO: I don't think so. All the votes are in. It's now just a matter of being certain who they were for.
But he can't say anything that's going to change the number of ballots, unless, in my hometown of Philly, they start finding some more, I wouldn't put it coming up with another Philly special.
But, in reality, what's going to happen is, I think, what Biden will do is what George W. Bush and what Al Gore both did 20 years ago is, they're going to start acting like they won. They're going to start their transition teams. They're going to start preparing to become president, give it a sense of momentum and inevitability about it.
And you can sort of see Biden re doing that by saying, let the process play out, everybody stay calm, and we're going to start maybe moving towards a transition.
CAVUTO: Right.
I can remember 20 years ago that the advantage that George Bush had for him at the time was that he was leading in Florida, and that you could argue over how the count was going in Palm Beach County and Pinellas County and all that. I got that then.
That's the position that Joe Biden is in. He's leading. It's -- the math is much more prohibitive for the president. So Biden has more wiggle room to state a case and begin or push a transition.
But it's risky, isn't it?
YOO: Well, again, if he can get those votes ascertained in some kind of final way, that shifts the burden onto Trump.
CAVUTO: Right.
YOO: Once that happens, he's sitting pretty.
Trump then has to start pushing to try to get courts involved, to try to get recount going, to try to reverse and dislodge the presumption that Biden has won. So, if he can get a -- if Biden can come out today, and say he's got a state called, and then that puts him at 270 or over, then I think you're right, Neil.
I don't think there's any downside for Biden to start moving forward as if he is president, to start interviewing Cabinet applicants and so on. Trump will then be on the defensive.
I feel, actually, in a way Trump's been on the defensive for several days now, that Biden's been sort of pushing the initiative because he's been ahead and so close, only six votes short from winning.
CAVUTO: Did the president risk doing it a service arguing the fraud case, that, in fact, there's fraud going on here?
A number of Republican, from Chris Christie, Mitt Romney, Pat Toomey, a host of others, that that was a bridge too far. He's since been saying just count things honestly, keep the vote honest, and all that. But does it cast aspersions on the president and what he's out for here, just the legal argument?
YOO: Yes, I was just about to say that. Your point is exactly right.
The political argument President Trump is making, unfortunately, will injure his legal argument, because he's already had several of these cases alleging fraud tossed out because, when those people came forward, they had no evidence. And so judges easily toss them about.
What happens if the campaign actually does find some cases of fraud with real evidence? Judges are really going to look skeptical -- skeptically -- I'm sorry -- at that, because we have already had a string of lawsuits where Trump said -- the Trump campaign said fraud, and when judges actually took the trouble to look, there was no proof.
And that's what Trump really -- I think I would say, husband your powder, wait until you actually have evidence. Otherwise, as you said, Neil, just call for the vote and the process to go forward in a calm and collected way, unless you find something, and then bring that forward.
CAVUTO: All right, John Yoo.
Fun going back in time. You're aging a lot better than I am, my friend, so thank you for revisiting that, I think.
John Yoo, the former deputy assistant attorney general.
I want to move to Atlanta, Georgia, right now.
Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chair, is addressing where the legal fight now is going for team Trump. Let's listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: ... on this process until every last issue has been uncovered and resolved.
Today, we announced that the RNC has deployed legal teams in four states, including Georgia.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCDANIEL: We are here to investigate clear irregularities -- you will hear the evidence of this later on -- with vote counting and tabulation.
We will work with state and local authorities to ensure that a legal count is conducted in accordance to the state's laws, and that every vote is counted.
It's crazy to us that the mainstream media would call a race like Arizona for Biden with -- when our side still has enough votes to win. The margin right now is 47,000 votes. And in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan and Georgia, in some cases, the margin is only a few thousand votes, the media is so quick to try and claim those races are over and that Biden has won.
If the shoe was on the other foot, and President Trump was in the lead and all these states, the media would be screaming that the race is not over and we need more time to count and make sure it is right.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCDANIEL: Because Biden is in a very slight lead, the media demands the race is over, and there is nothing else to see here.
The American people need to have confidence in their elections. And that is what we will pursue.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCDANIEL: Right now, we don't have that confidence, because, across the country, Democrat officials are shutting down transparency.
Democrats are damaging the country and the process of a smooth transition of power by not allowing a transparent process. The Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign have deployed a team of legal experts to Georgia and, per usual, after the legal votes were in and tallied, unaccounted-for ballots have continued to appear in Democrat stronghold counties.
Other individuals that we will be speaking today will outline the evidence and what we have seen in irregularities in Georgia. But we cannot let this stand. And we will fight every irregularity to the very last, because every voter deserves their vote to be counted. And they deserve to know whether or not these irregularities mean fraud.
And we have to figure this out.
It is now my pleasure and my honor to introduce the former Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
FMR. GOV. SONNY PERDUE (R-GA): Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Sonny Perdue.
(LAUGHTER)
PERDUE: And I just happen to be the former governor, but I'm really more of a proud Georgia citizen.
And I'm distressed today. Actually, I'm dismayed after two days after the election polls closed of the irregularities that I have heard reported here in Georgia. Folks, this is Georgia. This is not somewhere else. We take care of business in Georgia.
What is happening in Georgia today? And that's why we're here. And that's why I'm here, because I have a vested interest in Georgia, not because of my history, but because of my future; 14 grandchildren are what I'm standing up for today, for fair elections.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PERDUE: Everyone here knows that elections are the cornerstone of democracy. And they have got to be fair, they have got to be accurate, and they got to be safe and secure.
And that's what elections are all about. We need to ensure. And we are for every legal vote being counted.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PERDUE: But just as much as that, we're for every illegal vote to be thrown out.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PERDUE: It is distressing to see what's happened in some of our local counties regarding superintendents and transparency and issues like that.
As you know, after the legal votes were in and tallied, we have heard a records of unaccounted-for ballots appearing in various counties in amazingly strong -- Democrat strong vote counties.
But, as Ronna said, Trump victory, Georgia is committed to ensuring all these legal votes are counted. And up until this point, we have seen evidence and indications that the irregularities have occurred. And that's what we want to do.
Folks, I don't know if these reports are true or accurate. But, frankly, the widespread reporting of them is just too much to ignore. And, really, I don't think we can -- I think we have got an obligation to investigate and investigate thoroughly and fully.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PERDUE: I believe that the reports are so overwhelming and blatant that we have got an obligation to investigate them and investigate them clearly.
I really believe that the citizens of Georgia deserve a fair, transparent election process with an accurate tally of legally cast ballots.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PERDUE: It's a simple mission. We have always done voting here in Georgia in a simple way. The people of Georgia expect it. The mission is simple, to make sure that an election is accurate and a reflection of the people of the will of Georgia.
This is the way democracy works. So we're calling on, I'm calling on, as a concerned citizen, not any kind of status or anything else -- I'm calling on the secretary of state, calling on the government. I'm calling on the legislature of Georgia, prior to any kind of certification of these elections, to make sure they are fair, accurate, and every legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is cast out.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PERDUE: This election is too important. This election is too important. And the great people of Georgia deserve transparency and a fair election and fair results.
Thank you all very much.
And now I think I'd like to interview somebody who needs no introduction, showman himself, Vernon Jones.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
STATE REP. VERNON JONES (D-GA): Hello, America.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JONES: Hello, Georgia.
Let me be frank and earnest. There's a dead cat on the end of this line.
(LAUGHTER)
JONES: And it's stinking. It's stinking with fraud. It's stinking with lack of transparency. It's stinking with non-accountability.
And It's stinking with those who call themselves wanting to have fair elections, it's stinking with their absence. Where is Fair Fight, if you're standing for people's rights and their right to vote and every vote is counted, every legal vote is counted? Where is Fair Fight?
I will tell you where Fair Fight is. Fair Fight, to that crowd, is fair when their man is stealing the election. That's when it's fair to them.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JONES: As a member of the Georgia General Assembly, 12-year member, it is my duty to speak up for every Georgian when their vote is not being counted, when their vote is not being counted accurately, and when there's all these type of irregularities taken place.
Why haven't we call on Jimmy Carter to come? He can go to other countries and see their process through.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JONES: And I don't mean that in a bad sense, because I like one of our native sons, President Carter, but he needs to be here if he's for fair votes, accountability and transparency.
That's what I like about Donald Trump. He travels with a set of twins, one named accountability and the other one named transparency. That's what I like about him.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JONES: I have had Democrats, Republicans, black, white, gay, the whole cross -- across the whole state of Georgia, matter of fact, across this country, saying, what is going on in Georgia? I may not agree with your candidate, Vernon, but if they take my vote -- if they take your vote away from you, they're taking my vote away from me.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JONES: That's the American spirit.
And what I see happening, this is a sham. This is a sham. And it's disgraceful and criminal. I think it has the potential of criminality here.
I just want, like every Georgian want, we want things to be done by the book. We can send a man to the moon, but we can't count votes accurately?
I'm talking about the legal ones now. And we can't do it within 24 hours?
How does a state of California get theirs in, and Georgia can't get is its in?
That's because, if you look, an example of the pandemic, of failed leader leadership is where all these Democrats who are running these cities and overseeing these county elections, that's where you see, literally -- I was getting ready to say something, but I will be all over the damn news.
(LAUGHTER)
CROWD: Say it! Say it! Say it!
JONES: Well, let me say this.
I hope the news media learn from this. It's been you carrying the false narrative of these false polls coming from these liberal universities. And you and these pollsters have done more to interfere with this election than Russia and China combined.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JONES: You have suppressed and depressed the voters of this country.
But I'm going to tell you, we're going to fight. Last night, I made a comment, we don't fight with violence. I'm not for violence. But we're going to fight to our last breath for our constitutional rights...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JONES: ... to our last breath.
And we will take on Antifa, Black Lives Matter, Fair Fight, Stacey Abrams, and all of them, because we're going to do what is right for the people of Georgia.
And I want every -- I want to give everybody a number to call. If you think there's -- you have been slighted, because I'm getting calls and letters. I know many of you are. And I know the media have gotten it too.
I want you to call for 470-410-8793. Report your fraud or report what has happened to you. Don't be afraid. Come up. If I can go through what I have gone through standing up for Georgians and America, you can too.
And I don't care.
(APPLAUSE)
JONES: I'm going to fight. If my parties want, I'm going to fight them to the end.
As matter of fact, my party has been wrong. There should be members of the Black Caucus here right now. The Democratic Caucus should be here right now. The Democratic Party should be here right now, because this is about democracy.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JONES: Our elections -- if we don't get elections right here, where else can we go and get them right?
And so, with that being said, we have been able to bring someone into the fold. And I'm talking about someone who's probably one of the most -- has one of the most brilliant minds, legal minds, in this country.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JONES: If you think I'm lying, ask CNN...
(LAUGHTER)
JONES: ... and some of those others who attack everyday people, try to destroy their reputation, changed their lives forever.
You all join me in bringing in a fighter who's fighting for you, for Georgians, and this president. You all welcome Lin Wood .
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fight back!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you, Lin!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fight back!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you!
LIN WOOD, ATTORNEY: I love you too, if you're not behind the camera and you're a member of the media
(LAUGHTER)
WOOD: How you doing?
I was -- I was sitting around Tuesday night watching the election returns.
I have loved politics all my life, since I first voted in 1972. And I saw what I assumed was going to happen.
I saw President Trump building up what I believed was going to be almost a historic landslide victory.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WOOD: And then, all of a sudden, every network, including FOX News, started doing what they do best. They started lying to the American public.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WOOD: And they took a victory from Donald Trump, and they called it a lie.
They took a defeat from Joe Biden and lied and said he won.
And they sent you to bed turning off the count of the vote, so you could wake up tomorrow -- the next morning, like I did and go, what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Legacy media.
WOOD: What happened?
When I was asked by President Trump to help him in Georgia and perhaps in other places around this country, I said yes.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WOOD: When former Governor Perdue asked me to help him, and Vernon Jones asked me to help, and the Republican Party asked me to help, I said the same thing I said when Nicholas Sandmann asked me to help him.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WOOD: I said the same thing I said when Kyle Rittenhouse asked me to help him.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WOOD: I said yes, because there is a cloud over this country.
And if we don't get it right, and we don't figure out what happened that night, that cloud is going to get darker and darker, until it turns into a storm cloud, and we're going to lose our freedom.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WOOD: So, it is time to fight back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
WOOD: I have heard over the past several months, maybe a little bit longer.
They have almost neutered the word, well, it's a constitutional crisis.
This is a constitutional crisis.
Let me tell you, this is a constitutional crisis.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WOOD: And if we don't fix it and find out what happened out and get it right...
CAVUTO: We're going to continuing to monitor this right now, and the concern on the part of the Trump camp that, in Georgia and other states, a lot of improprieties are going on, fraud, illegalities.
We don't know specifically to what they're referring. And I wanted to state with this to find out whether they would reveal that. They have not.
I guess the latest concern they had is going to bed at night and not knowing how some of these states would turn out, or whether there was a cabal against Donald Trump, to say that one way or the other. There was some controversy, calling Arizona, as this network did and the Associated Press.
But I believe, in all the other cases of the states at the time, from Michigan, to Wisconsin, to Georgia, Pennsylvania, the vote was simply too close to call. So, we didn't make any calls there. Neither did other news organizations.
But we stayed with that a little while to find out exactly these charges of illegalities or fraud that would evidence themselves. They have yet to materialize.
So, maybe Steve Harrigan is aware of something that I am not.
Another quick reference, before we go to Steve, on Georgia, the governor of that state is a Republican. The secretary of the state is also a Republican.
So, Steve, help me with this. What are they talking about when they are talking the fraud issue, and they are talking irregularities, illegalities?
What are they specifically referring to?
STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, I think you're right on target.
You see a lot of passion and a lot of anger, but you don't see any specific examples of, where was the irregularity? In what county? What happened?
Where's the theft?
So, you're seeing anger and emotion, but you're not seeing any facts behind it. I think part of the reason you're seeing so much anger and confusion is the way this election went, like many people warned it would.
You had strong day-of voting for President Trump, and later ballots coming in for Joe Biden, absentee ballots. So you had a Trump lead on Election Day of about 300,000 votes in Georgia. And, suddenly and steadily, hour after hour, that lead continued to evaporate.
Now the numbers are simply amazing. And a lot of people are amazed at these numbers, just how close things are. You have Biden, by the latest figures, up about 1,000 votes, this in the state where nearly five million votes have been cast.
So, if you want to look at the number of how close it actually is right now, it's point 0.0002 percent, which is a pretty stunning number.
As far as the facts go, officials say there's roughly 4,000 votes still outstanding, many of them in the suburbs of Atlanta, which went pretty much blue for Joe Biden. And the president himself also attacked the process here in Georgia earlier today, writing, "Where" -- on Twitter,"Where are the missing military ballots in Georgia? What happened to them?"
The president referring to about 8,000 military and overseas ballots. Those ballots have until 5:00 p.m. today to be registered. They had to be postmarked by Tuesday.
Election officials, many of whom are Republican, as you pointed out, have pointed to no impropriety, no problem so far that they have noted with these military ballots.
We could get a preliminary count here in Georgia by the weekend, but it's not likely to be certified until November 20. That's when the state will finally say what's happened. But it's not likely to be over then either. If the difference is less than half-a-percent between Biden and Trump, as is likely, we will see a recount here.
They will take the paper ballots and put them through a scanner. That could take a week. And that's not over yet either. We could see two Senate seats run off January 5, with neither getting 50 percent of the vote originally on Election Day.
So, we could have weeks and weeks of what we already see is an angry, emotional battle here in Georgia -- Neil.
CAVUTO: But, Steve, to your point -- I'm glad you raise it -- I mean, we knew going in the order of events, that we were first going to get results from day-of voting, which would favor the president, as it did in all of these battleground states.
Georgia was not expected to be as much of a battleground, to your point, as it ended up being. And then we knew, with the next wave of the ballots that were sent in ahead of time, that that count would narrow a little bit here, and that Joe Biden would be faring better.
But that -- I just wonder -- and that's why I held on as long as I could on that press briefing to find out, all right, where's the proof of the improprieties or the rig charges that I hear?
Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe that's something separately they're going to raise in court. But, again, back to where you started, is any of that at play here, or just the sheer volume of ballots, counting them, and it proving to be ultimately much closer than thought?
HARRIGAN: I think a lot of people warned people what to expect. As you said, a lot of people knew what to expect. They would see a big Trump lead and then a comeback by Biden.
But this was a new election and a new way of tabulating. And we saw new results. To see a 300,000-vote lead disappear before your eyes over 24 hours is a remarkable thing. There's a lot of people angry, upset and puzzled by it.
Right now, they're saying the elections the sham, the election is robbery.
But, so far, we have seen no concrete facts to back up those charges -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, Steve Harrigan, thank you very, very much.
It's all about getting to 270, to Steve's point right here. And whether you do that through the streets of Georgia, or you go through Pennsylvania, or even, as the Trump folks have said, revisiting Michigan and Wisconsin, looking certainly at Arizona that had already been called by this network and the Associated Press for Joe Biden.
A lot of anger over that on team Trump and elsewhere. But the math is for the moment what it appears to be, 264 electoral votes for Joe Biden, 214 for the president, keeping close eye on that, and what could turn and what we're waiting for, and whether we will get any more additional calls before Joe Biden addresses the nation tonight in about three-and-a-half hours.
My friend Bill Hemmer.
Bill, what are you seeing?
BILL HEMMER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, Neil.
This is a remarkable thing here. This is 2.4 million votes for Joe Biden and 2.4 million votes for Donald Trump in the state of Georgia, 49.4 percent to 49.4. Just remarkable.
We're watching this number too. The difference between to two men is 1,544.
And just watching the returns throughout the day here, we thought this Laurens County, Georgia, had about 1,700 outstanding ballots. Apparently they have been added to the list, actually.
So you can take the 1,700 off in Laurens County. We do know there's a fair amount of votes, as Steve was talking about, around Atlanta, surrounding metro area here. Gwinnett County is one of them.
At daybreak, Neil, they thought they had a couple thousand now. But listening to the officials last hour in Atlanta, it seems less than 1,000, maybe around 700, 800 here in Gwinnett County, heavily Democratic, going for Joe Biden there. So, we're going to see which way that breaks.
And people were talking about Chatham County, which is Savannah, a bit earlier. I think this is interesting, I will tell you, Neil, but get-out- the-vote, right? I mean, that's what the Trump team is -- and they did a really good job during this election. You can scan the country and see the way they increase the vote.
But, in Savannah, Georgia, in Chatham County, I will tell you, Joe Biden had 78,000 raw votes. Donald Trump had 53,000. Four years ago, same margin.
Hillary Clinton was 20,000 votes less, Donald Trump was 10,000 votes. So, both teams, both campaigns did what they wanted to do, if you consider roughly a 2-1 margin between Biden and Trump.
He's up 20,000 and he's up 10,000 over the previous performance from four years ago.
The what-if scenario, I think also, Neil, this would be -- I will put into motion for you a little bit. You talk about 270. How do you get there? Joe Biden's at 264, Donald Trump right now at 214. If you were to click on, if you were to -- the margin in Nevada is 20,000 votes in favor of Joe Biden at the moment.
If he were to get that, he would have the magic number of 270. The number here in Pennsylvania has been tossing around all day long, a couple thousand here, a couple thousand there. Sometimes, it's a couple hundred here and a couple hundred there.
If the Keystone State were to be called, he would be the president-elect for January of 2021. I think, also, the more significant thing that is developing too, in addition to all this, the Senate races in Georgia, no matter who wins, Neil, if Georgia is the hotbed for who controls power in Congress, if you get two run-offs in Georgia the first week of January, and if Joe Biden holds on to that super slim lead, and we find out late November or early in December that he's won that state, if Georgia goes blue, that's the first time that will happen since 1992.
And you and I are going to be talking about shifting winds in the political sphere...
CAVUTO: Right.
HEMMER: ... in places like this here in the Southeast.
So, hold on to that idea. When we get to it, we will cover it -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Thank you, my friend, very, very much.
No one knows that map better, Bill Hemmer on all of that.
That is sort of the oddity of this race here, what is lost in the sauce and why Georgia is competitive at all, once a reliably red state, although it's gotten decidedly less so over the years. And for the first time, Democrats could take the Peach State since, as Bill pointed out, Bill Clinton in 1992.
Too early to say. And, again, with little more than 1,100 votes separating the two, a recount is sort of at a gimme at this point.
In some of these other battleground states, the math remains very prohibitive for Donald Trump. He would simply have to run the table in these remaining states, in Nevada, in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina, have to win all of them to have any chance at this.
If you are Joe Biden, you much prefer your position. One will do it.
We will have more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): But, as I said, we won those seats in Trump districts. He wasn't on the ballot. He is now.
We have lost some battles. But we won the war. We have the gavel. We have the gavel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: OK, Nancy Pelosi crowing about, even though losing a few seats, still maintaining a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.
Whether she becomes the leader of those Democrats in the new Congress, anyone's guess, but arguing from a position of strength, we have the gavel, we run things.
And maybe the stimulus could be coming even in a lame-duck session of Congress. That might be a leap too far, but Chad Pergram following all of this.
What do you think, Chad?
CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Neil. Good afternoon.
This conference call, the House Democratic Caucus had the first conference call that they have had since the election. There's a lot of recriminations here about the fact that they didn't add to their majority, that they actually lost seats.
And so I asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this morning if there was tension inside her caucus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: Welcome to my world.
I would say we have a healthy difference of opinion within our caucus, but not in any way to be problematic in how we legislate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERGRAM: Virginia Representative Abigail Spanberger barely won, but said Democrats -- quote -- "lost races we shouldn't have." She said: "Defund the police almost cost me my race because of an attack ad. Don't say socialism ever again."
But liberals like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say some moderate Democrats still backed the Green New Deal and won.
Now, you would think that they're going to have a real chance here in the House Democratic Caucus to pass more liberal bills. They're going to have a lot more liberals inside the House majority. But because they lost seats, that's a bit of a paradox, the reason being, they can't lose too many votes.
And when it comes to stimulus or it comes to keeping the government open, they're going to have some pretty good inter-family fights there between progressive Democrats and conservative Democrats -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, Chad Pergram, thank you very much, my friend.
Want to go to Emanuel Cleaver right now, the Democratic Missouri congressman.
Congressman, always good having you.
Would you support Nancy Pelosi to lead Democrats again in the House?
REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER (D-MO): Yes, I would.
And I think that, for people around the country who may not realize this, Nancy Pelosi is the reason that a lot of things don't get out of control.
I was on that telephone call. I was at the meeting. And I think one of those misconceptions traveling around the country, because I could hear it in my district and in my neighboring district over in Kansas, that all of these socialists were elected to Congress, and they're all going to be on the -- in the Democratic column, and they're going to be pushing for this and that.
I think there may be four of them in the House and one in the Senate. And I don't think there's going to be a lot of things -- I'm going to represent my district. I support trying to deal with this climate. I think we're having some environmental problems.
For me, I do not -- and I have said it openly -- I do not support a Green New Deal. I think we have to have components of that, and gradually move ourselves away from fossil fuel. And right now, we use -- we need to use all of them, fossil fuel, wind, sun, solar -- solar, cellulosic, everything.
But Nancy Pelosi has kept things going. And I think some of the reasons people -- some of the people wanting her to go are the people who are way out in another little region, and they -- and they would like for her to go out there.
And she's -- she realizes that, if she does, we're going to lose seats, because the country, I would say, middle, center left -- you would probably center right -- but, for sure, it's center.
CAVUTO: We're watching these crowds build in Philadelphia and elsewhere.
When we do have a call on this electron, I'm sure there are going to be a lot of people upset. I know you're a Democratic congressman. You try to work with both sides. But I want to work the minister part of your experience. I mean, that has come in certainly handy in dealing with a lot of extremes during this time.
So, how do you advise candidates and those who -- you know, partisan views, they don't want to see their side lose, others who are very delighted if their side wins, to balance this, to keep this in perspective?
CLEAVER: Yes.
Well, the -- I had a similar situation on the local level. All night long, when the television reports were coming across, I was behind. My children were panicky, but we knew that the absentee votes had not come in, and there were large numbers of people who voted absentee.
I ended up winning by 20. But if you had watched it at 8:00, you would have probably said, Cleaver is losing, or he's going to lose, and lose badly.
And then, if you had taken a nap and woke up, and I was 200,000 votes, you would -- what happened?
So, I can understand people having this feeling, but that's just the way...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Well, can you understand?
Let me ask you, though, something on that, Congressman, because a lot of the Trump folks are saying, look, we just want a free and fair count, because a lot of these states are very close.
Now, the comments that the president made about whether some of this is fraudulent notwithstanding, what is wrong with that? And do Democrats who wanted the same thing 20 years ago in Florida look hypocritical arguing against that today?
CLEAVER: Yes, see, and this is the problem.
We don't have national election standards. And we tell people we're going to have a national election. And we don't.
CAVUTO: Right.
CLEAVER: We have hundreds or probably several thousand little elections all around the country.
And if we want to get out of this and prevent ourselves from teetering on a split in the country, we need some national standards.
But the other thing we also need to understand is that chaos is not the friend of the United States. Democracy has always been fragile. And so chaos is not our friend.
The people in -- and Russia is our enemy, not our adversary. They're our enemy. They're probably dancing in the streets, at least in their souls.
CAVUTO: All right.
I'm sorry. I -- really -- no, you're right.
CLEAVER: So...
CAVUTO: We have just got to put this in perspective, keep the calm, and under -- keep the faith, quite literally.
Emanuel Cleaver, always good talking to you, especially during these hot times, to just cool it down, bring it down.
We could all do that on both sides.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: So many lawsuits, so little time.
Let's go to Nevada, where that is sort of the focus of attention right now.
Las Vegas is where you will find our Jonathan Hunt.
Jonathan, what's going on there?
JONATHAN HUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Neil, in a couple of hours, we're due to get some more voting numbers here in Nevada.
Little of what we have heard so far bodes well for President Trump. A tranche of vote numbers were released earlier today. In those numbers, former Vice President Biden virtually doubled his lead over President Trump to just over 20,000 votes.
But some of those votes are being challenged in the courts by Republicans, a hearing due to get under way in just a few minutes, in fact, on a federal lawsuit. The meat -- the meatiest part of that lawsuit involves a claim from Republicans that some 3,062 votes were cast illegally by people not resident in Nevada.
Democrats have said that that claim is meritless. They got some backing for that view from the Clark County registrar today, who said there are several reasons why somebody not actually residing at the moment in Nevada still has the legal right to vote here.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE GLORIA, CLARK COUNTY, GEORGIA, REGISTRAR: You don't have to live here in order to be eligible to vote here. This is a military town.
We have Nellis Air Force Base. We also have several students. But it's not out of the ordinary at all for somebody not to live here, but be eligible to vote here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And we have taken a look at that list of 3,062 names, Neil, and there are indeed many on there listed as APO or FPO.
Now, as you know, those indicate military post offices. So it does stand to reason that some of those are indeed active-duty military who have the absolute right to vote here in Nevada.
But a judge is going to hear the Republican argument in just a few minutes'
time -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Thank you, my friend, Jonathan Hunt, in Las Vegas.
We're three hours away, a little bit more than that, from hearing from Joe Biden. What he's going to say today in addressing the nation is anyone's guess.
Let's go to Jeh Johnson, the former Department of Homeland secretary, his idea of what he might want to hear out of the vice president.
What do you -- what do you think, Jeh? Where do you see the former vice president positioning himself tonight, especially if no other state comes forward to be called, and he's still technically under the 270 he would need to be president-elect?
JEH JOHNSON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Neil, thanks for having me on.
Full disclosure, I asked to be on tonight because of my respect to you and for your show.
I'm not exactly sure what Vice President Biden is going to say, but I know what I want to say at this moment.
Our nation now, Neil, is bitterly divided, far more than it should be. This has been an extraordinarily close election. And no matter the outcome, roughly one-half of America is going to be extraordinarily disappointed.
But, at the end of the day, when the process has run its course, it's our duty as Americans, even though we may be disappointed with the result, to accept and respect the result.
I recall, 40 years ago at this time, when Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter, I was very disappointed with the result. But I accepted it, and I respected it. Years later, ironically, I was the recipient of the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Award at the Reagan Library.
Twenty years ago, I was extraordinarily disappointed with the result. And that was a very close election, Bush v. Gore. Four years ago, I was very disappointed with the result, but I accepted it and I respected it. I did my job.
I went to visit Mr. Trump at Trump Tower. And when I met him, "I said congratulations, Mr. President-elect."
As Americans, we enjoy a free and open democracy. The price we pay is, every four years, we may be disappointed with the result. But, at the end of the day, we should all accept and respect the result. And if you don't like it, you have an opportunity again in four years to try to make a change.
CAVUTO: Do you think that the former vice president should be aware of that, if he's under 270, not to declare victory, let the votes continue, count them up, and see what happens?
JOHNSON: I'm confident that Vice President Biden will not declare victory prematurely.
I am sure that he will allow the process to run its course. And when the networks reach a point where they have determined that he is the winner, should he be the winner, in the conventional way, he will declare victory.
I would hope that the incumbent, President Trump, would concede that the president -- that Vice President Biden is the winner, if that is the case, as every other president has done in modern times when they have lost the election.
CAVUTO: Well put.
Jeh Johnson, we needed to hear that, calming perspective, step back from the parties, step back from the heat, which is understandable, and let's just move forward as a country. One way or the other, we will. We always have.
We are monitoring this as well with our live coverage tomorrow, the fallout from anything that Joe Biden says tonight for our country.
And do keep in mind, folks, we've been through so much worse. We can get through this.
Here's "The Five."
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