Jack Brewer on renewed focus on school choice amid COVID pandemic

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," August 31, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Good to see you tonight. Hello, everybody. So, we've got Joe Biden speaking in Pittsburgh today. The public was not allowed and there weren't any questions taken at this appearance, but it did show that he was getting out sooner than he had said he would. He was going to hit the campaign trail, he said the day after Labor Day, to which the president mocked him, asking, why wait 10 more days? This heckler seemed to agree.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey Joe, you're finally out of basement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Joe delivering pizzas there, but now there has been a clear shift in polls and in the urgency of the violence after a clash between protest groups in Portland over the weekend left one man dead, just days after two men were killed in a similar scene in the streets of Kenosha. Mr. Biden avoided any mention of the violent riots at his convention. But today, we are seeing a big change in tone in the Pittsburgh speech. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting. It's lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted. I know most cops are good, decent people. I know how they risk their lives every time they put that shield on. Do you really feel safer under Donald Trump?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, good evening, everybody. I'm Martha MacCallum and this is “The Story” in America tonight. The president responding to Joe Biden's strategy just a short time ago. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Biden's strategy is to surrender to the Left-wing mob, which is exactly what he's doing. I don't think he even knows what he's doing and give them control over every lever of power in the United States government. But when you surrender there, Bob, you don't get freedom. You get fascism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, the president, we are told, will head to Kenosha, Wisconsin, that after the governor there told him not to come. And that follows Governor Evers, the same governor who recently backed down and gave in to the offer from the federal government to come in and help them with the violence there, which seems to have worked so far.

Joe Biden saying that he hoped that he would be able to go to Wisconsin to address the violence after the death of Jacob Blake. He has spoken with Blake's parents and told MSNBC, if I were president, I would be going, but that he didn't want to become part of the problem there.

So, here now on all of this, Mercedes Schlapp, Senior Adviser to the Trump Campaign, Marie Harf, former State Department spokesperson for the Obama - Biden administration and a Fox News Contributor. Welcome to both of you. Great to have you both with us this evening.

So, Marie, obviously, we heard a very strong, forceful change of tone today from Joe Biden. And it comes after we have seen some polls that show that the tide is turning on how people are looking at these protests. Some of these protests have turned into riots. And take a look at these numbers. Do you approve or disapprove? I'm sorry - do you approve or disapprove of the mass protests that have been held since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In June, 61 percent approved. In August, only 48 percent approved. And these are Wisconsin voters. So, is this why we are seeing a very dramatic change in tone from Mr. Biden?

MARIE HARF, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's not a dramatic change in tone, he all along has condemned any violence, rioters and looters, but he was very strong today, Martha, when he came out and condemned all violence, also said that this is a moment in our country where we need to be talking about racial justice, that violence isn't the way to do it.

And he pointed out quite rightly, the President Trump will not condemn all violence. He was asked again tonight at the press briefing at the White House if he would condemn his supporter, a Right-wing activist who murdered two people last week. And he defended him, Martha. And that's the contrast here. Donald Trump refuses to condemn Right-wing violence, and Joe Biden--

MACCALLUM: Well, to be fair, Marie.

HARF: All violence is bad.

MACCALLUM: We haven't heard anything--

HARF: We have to find a way.

MACCALLUM: This has been going on for months and we haven't heard anything from Joe Biden about ANTIFA or some of the more radical elements of Black Lives Matter. So, since you brought it up, let's play what President Trump said today about Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been charged in the deaths, the murders of two men in Wisconsin. Watch this response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to condemn the actions of vigilantes like Kyle Rittenhouse.

TRUMP: We're looking at all of it. That was an interesting situation. You saw the same tape as I saw, and he was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. And he fell and then they very violently attacked him. And it was something that we're looking at right now and it's under investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Mercedes, the president does suggest that he thinks that it wasn't Kyle Rittenhouse's fault, and then he says that it is under investigation. So, is it too soon to sort of make any assessment in that case and to sort of suggest that maybe he was right in what he did?

MERCEDES SCHLAPP, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISOR: Look, it is under investigation, I think we want to look at the case of the ANTIFA shooter who killed a Trump supporter this past weekend in Portland, shot him in cold blood. And so, I think what we need to deal with here is the fact that for Joe Biden, it's taken him a long time to even talk about these rights. In fact, he talked about the rights and calling them peaceful protest. And he also talked about the fact attacking our law enforcement, saying that they stoke the fires of division.

So, it is truly because Joe Biden listens to these Left-wing agitators that are destroying these cities, not going and talking to the mayor in Portland or the governor in Portland and saying, look, take this federal assistance, deploy the National Guard, ensure that we have peace in our streets. That's not--

MACCALLUM: Mercedes, I'd like to go back again, ask you the question because you didn't answer it. With regard to Kyle Rittenhouse and I spoke just a few minutes ago to Senator Rand Paul, and everybody will hear that interview in just a moment. But he said, I asked him about that case, and we don't know what happened in that case. And I think that's all anybody should be saying at this point about that case, because it's under investigation. We don't know if Kyle Rittenhouse will be found guilty in those murders or not.

But what Rand Paul said was, no, you cannot walk down the streets with a rifle as a private citizen in the middle of these situations, what you should do is stay away from these places. So, why did we not hear that from the president?

SCHLAPP: We need to make sure that the police have the resources they need to do their job. And that is not what the Democrat line is. They want to defund the police--

MACCALLUM: And if they don't, is it OK for citizens to take it into their own hands?

SCHLAPP: If they have to? If it's self-defense, they have a right to self- defense. We'll see, under this case, it's under investigation. It was the president's opinion that with this video in and of itself that Kyle looked like they were trying to kill him. So, he responded.

MACCALLUM: Well, like I said, we're going to wait, just like we are waiting for Jacob Blake and the other cases. We need to go through these investigations and not make any judgment about them--

SCHLAPP: Absolutely.

MACCALLUM: Until we see what happened. Here's another poll from the Marquette, from this another Wisconsin poll, Marquette Law School. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the response to protests about George Floyd? And that number has not changed. Its 50 percent disapprove in June as well as in August. A quick response to that Mercedes and then I want to ask Marie another question here.

SCHLAPP: Well, look, at the end of the day, this president stands for Law and Order. And I think what we're seeing right now is Joe Biden is coming too late to the table. He's basically looking at his polls. He's looking at the fact that he has weak leadership on this issue and now deciding to talk about the rioters that shouldn't riot.

But again, it was Joe Biden who called these rioters peaceful protesters. These are Left-wing agitators. Their job is to riot. Their job is to loot. Their job is to destroy. And the president has stood on the side of these small business owners, many of them minorities, that they have burned down, burned down.

MACCALLUM: Everyone is sympathetic to them. Absolutely across the board, everyone should be sympathetic to them--

SCHLAPP: Joe Biden has taken too long to stand on the side of these small business owners and not the Left-wing agitators.

MACCALLUM: Let's take a look at what Joe Biden - of what the president said today about Joe Biden not calling out Antifa. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Biden won't even say the name Antifa. I don't believe he said it today. He made a speech and he didn't mention that. He mentioned others, but he didn't mention Antifa. He mentioned law enforcement, he mentioned the police and - but he didn't mention Antifa. I wonder why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Wonder why? Why not, Marie?

HARF: Because Antifa is a broad term that everybody uses very differently, and if we look at court cases for who's actually been charged in these riots and looting, we don't find the word Antifa. Joe Biden was clear today, Martha. He condemned all violence. He also said that most cops are very good people and that he could bring people together to talk about this.

But Donald Trump every single day on Twitter incites his base and his supporters to take up vigilante justice. We saw him do it all over the last week. He is inciting violence and division every single day. And nothing Joe Biden said today could be called radical. He said, I want to be president for all Americans. I want to talk about racial justice. I want to talk about policing. I know police, most of them are good people, but I condemn violence.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Thank you very much. Mercedes and Marie, good to have both of you with us. Obviously, this conversation is going to go on for the next several weeks. Thank you. Coming up, protests around the nation extending to our nation's capital, an angry mob taunting police with this.

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MACCALLUM: Senator Rand Paul and his wife landing in a similar scene. We're seeing actually after the RNC. Now, the senator wants to know who is behind these organizations, who is funding their travel, all of that. I know that's on a lot of people's minds where his story goes from here, coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's a disgrace, and frankly, the mayor, Democrat Mayor, Mayor Bowser should have done a better job. She did a very poor job. But at the same time, we had the police who were very brave. They helped Rand. I guess it started off with two and they took the beating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(VIDEO PLAYING)

MACCALLUM: Another night of tensions and some arresting of protesters in Washington, D.C. The scene was really tense the other night after the final night of the RNC at the White House. Senator Rand Paul and many others, including some of our folks were harassed leaving that event. Now, Senator Rand Paul is among many who are demanding answers about who exactly is organizing and supporting these protesters, backing, and writing in an op ed, who are these people? Who paid for their hotel rooms? Who flew them in?

Law enforcement needs to look at the funding of violent criminal activity like this, and national Democrats need to confront it. It's organized, it's paid for. It's violent. It is not about black lives or any lives. It's about anarchy and destruction, writes Rand Paul. For example, this is the accosting of a New Hampshire RNC representative. This young protester singled him out and she knew his name. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Killing of black individuals in the United States. Mr. Edgar how do you feel about the killing of black individuals in the United States? How do you feel about the killing of black individuals, put your hand on me again, and - hands on me again, knock you up?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky joins us now. Senator, thank you for being here. You watched this; I think it's a young woman totally had covered in this protest moment. She knows the name of this RNC representative from New Hampshire. Now, I would understand that people in New Hampshire might know him. I did not know this man's name. I don't know how many other people would recognize him by sight. But that struck me, sir.

SEN. RAND PAUL, R-KY: Well, and this is the same thing we ran into and, you know, I have a certain amount of notoriety, but we showed up on the corner and once someone yelled, it's Rand Paul, we've got him trapped. Then it went from a dozen to two dozen to three dozen. The crowd got bigger and bigger, but the crowd also kept pressing in. And we fortunately got to a corner where there were a couple of policemen, but we were just all sort of getting crowded and crowded and crowded, people pushing and shoving. And I really was uncertain whether the police had enough people to actually repel if it became a full-scale attack.

And I said to the policeman, they know who I am. You need reinforcements. He radioed for reinforcements. But I think we still stood there for 10 or 15 minutes with the crowd closing in on us. And I firmly believe that the police had not been there. We would have been drugged to the pavement. We would have been kicked and stomped until we were bleeding from our ears like the people in Portland and in other places.

This is something that we should stop. And at the very least, you should be arrested for disorderly conduct. You should be arrested for not letting people move. There's got to be a crime here inciting a riot. But I know you can't put these people away forever, but they need to be arrested so we can find out who's funding them, how they're getting there. They're staying in 600 to $1000 a night hotel. They have plane flights to come here.

Some of the people we picked out in the footage that were attacking us are from other cities and we can see them in riots in other cities. So, we're now seeing that the people are being flown from Portland to Minneapolis to D.C. for these riots. And it is not your First Amendment to trap people, terrorize them and threaten to kill them and call them all kinds of awful names. That is not your First Amendment right. That is not in the Constitution.

MACCALLUM: You mentioned seeing the same people. This one is a woman who was confronting Representative Brian Mast. And this video is also made a lot of you know, people watch it a lot as it has been replayed. And then you see her in another video. She also shows up in in your video, and that's just around the block. But it's interesting to me that that these same people are confronting all these different folks. But you've raised a lot of questions here about who's funding them. I don't know what hotel they stayed. And maybe you have done some digging into that. But what are some of the answers to those questions, do you think? Who is funding them?

PAUL: Well, I think the only way we know is through asking a judge the proper way is we have to get a subpoena. But we should look at their financial records. We should look at who paid for the hotels. We should subpoena airline records. Now, I'm not talking about randomly. I'm talking about for people who are accused of a crime that we have evidence that they've been committing a crime. And I think it is a crime to incite a riot. It is a crime to threaten people. It's a crime to surround people and tell them they can't move anywhere. This is not a First Amendment.

Look, if it were a rally to be against no knock raids, I have a bill called the Breonna Taylor bill, I'm actually for - get it for reforms of this where we don't do no knock raids in the middle of the night, and yet they're attacking me. So, these people are so clueless and such idiots, they're out there for violence and they're out there for mayhem, but they aren't out there for reform.

Look, I've been a part of protests my whole life, protest against big government or protests against this. But we go and we have speeches and we talk about it and then we knock on the door and we lobby Congress. But you don't try to kill people. You don't kick people on the head in the street. The pictures that are out there, we can't have a country that ends up on fire like Portland (ph).

MACCALLUM: Well, it sounds like Joe Biden has finally come around to thinking that as well. He spoke in Pittsburgh today. He now says, and they did not mention this once at the DNC about the violence that was happening in the cities. And we've also heard a lot of people downplay it. Oh, it's nothing. You know, it's all peaceful protests. And then you've got a few rabble rousers, anybody who was on the streets of D.C. the other night. And I would imagine, and I was - I would imagine that it felt very similar to what you feel on the streets in Portland and some of these other cities. But here's what Joe Biden is saying about this today. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: These are not images of some imagined Joe Biden America in the future. These are images of Donald Trump's America today. He keeps telling you if only he was president, it wouldn't happen. If he were president, he keeps telling us if he was president, you'd feel safe. Well, he is president whether he knows it or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: What do you say to that, Senator?

PAUL: I'd say, he's just confused. These are his supporters. And I haven't heard Joe Biden or Kamala Harris come out and say what happened to my wife and I and the other two ladies that were with us is wrong. I haven't heard one word of rebuke. They're afraid of these people also, and they're afraid to rebuke them because these are their supporters. This is their base. The people attacking us, attacking the federal building. This is Joe Biden's base and he needs to disavow them.

MACCALLUM: But, Senator, what do you say--

PAUL: The Black Lives Matter, the woman in-charge of Black Lives Matter in Louisville said that it was good, that we were afraid. She could see fear in our face, and she was happy because that's the way she has to live, and they have to live. So, we should live in fear also. This is their message.

MACCALLUM: All right.

PAUL: That somehow, they are living in fear, so everyone else should be terrorized as well. And instead of the message that what a great country we have, and you can succeed too if you try.

MACCALLUM: Look, there is no doubt that the feeling that you express is what I was feeling on the street that night as well. And they don't care who they're talking to. They have no idea. It's like pulling down the statues. They don't know what the statues represent or what those people actually did. They did the same thing to you. But what do you say to those who say, well, there are also people on the Right who are doing this sort of thing, and they point to Kyle Rittenhouse, who is now accused of killing two people?

PAUL: What I would say is these cities that are on fire are run by Democrats, do not go and so you're going to be part of vigilante justice, run the heck away from these cities, move away from these cities, get away from these cities. But don't go. They're armed. They're going to have to figure out that their representatives - their Democrat mayors have let them down. But I'm not for militias and vigilantes going to these cities. Stay away from these cities. These cities are in ruin and they're on fire. But they've been on fire because Democrats have been in-charge for 50 years in every one of these cities.

MACCALLUM: Senator Rand Paul, thank you. Good to have you here tonight, sir.

PAUL: Thanks.

MACCALLUM: Our thanks to him. So, The Wall Street Journal calling school choice a major issue in the battle for the White House, echoing the president's call that this is the civil rights issue of our time. Jack Brewer says minority parents in America are waking up to this as an issue that is of great importance to their families, to their children. He joins us next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Frankly, school choice is the civil rights statement of the year of the decade and probably beyond, because all children have to have access to quality education.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK BREWER, FORMER NFL PLAYER: At some point, for the sake of our children, the policies must take priority over the personalities. So, because you have an issue with President Trump's tone, you're going to allow Biden and Harris to deny our undeserved black and brown children school choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: There has never been a bigger embrace of giving parents the opportunity to choose which school they want to send their children to and making their tax dollars portable to meet their decision, whether it be public or private or religious. Any of those choices.

Now, COVID-19 has heightened this issue because a lot of parents are teaching from home and they're becoming better acquainted than ever with what their kids are learning and what they're not being taught in school. So, The Wall Street Journal wrote a very powerful piece on this today. And part of that piece says this, parents are also discovering the woke political bias that passes for education in too many schools.

In Philadelphia, a public-school teacher tweeted his concern that conservative parents listening in are my chief concern. School choice is the real civil rights issue of our time, and the GOP deserves credit for making it a marquee part of its 2020 agenda goes on to write The Wall Street Journal editorial board.

Joining me now, Jack Brewer, CEO of the Brewer Group, and a former NFL player. Jack, always good to talk to you. Thank you for being here tonight.

BREWER: Great to be here.

MACCALLUM: I wonder what you see changing in terms of how people look at school choice, particularly in the black community where a lot of children, you know, for decades have not really had any choice at all where they go to school.

BREWER: Yes. Martha, you know, I spent a lot of time in the public school system. I spent a lot of time with underserved kids in particular. And you know, the sad thing about it is that our public schools have just not been able to adequately keep up with the real issues that are facing the kids that go to school there.

You look at underserved youth. And you look at places whether it's Detroit or Baltimore. You have proficiency levels for kids and math proficiency levels that are worse than third world countries.

MACCALLUM: Right.

BREWER: And these school systems are spending 20 and $25,000 per year per kid.

MACCALLUM: That's right.

BREWER: They are spending twice as much as it costs to go to private schools. This is a real issue that all Americans should stand up against.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

BREWER: I mean, you start looking at it. You know, we have over two million dropouts in America every year, two million dropouts. Well, Martha, 71 percent of those dropouts are fatherless.

So, these public schools have just not been able to keep up with the fatherlessness crisis that we have going on in our country because they are so liberal and they try to be so forgiving to every segment of the population that they don't put discipline in these kids anymore. Your kids can't go to a public school and have real discipline. Everyone wins. You don't have anyone there that's bridging that gap for these fatherless babies. That is the real issue.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

BREWER: And we have to take a stand. We have to allow these kids to go to religious institutions, allow these kids to go to charter schools, and be able to get access to a quality education that every other country across the world --

MACCALLUM: Yes.

BREWER: -- gives to their children.

MACCALLUM: I think you make fantastic points. And you know, these, all of these individuals work hard. They pay taxes. Their tax dollars go to these public schools. And as you point out, some of these places spend $25,000 per student. So something is not right there because they're not getting a $25,000 education.

And people say, we need more money. You got to throw more money at the schools. But that's not true because some of these areas that are serving the children the least are spending the most per capita on these students.

This is what Joe Biden said about school choice. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If I am president, Betsy DeVos' whole notion from charter schools to this are gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, he, you know, has said that it's gone. And he, his platform says that he is in favor of school choice but he's not in favor of portability of dollars to private schools or religious schools. What do you say to that? And do you think the attitude on this is changing among people who watch all of this play out?

BREWER: It is. Black moms in particular are listening to this and they want their kids to get access to education.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

BREWER: There are so many single moms that need that. The school is the place, I tell you. People think I'm crazy, Martha. But I'm calling to bring the paddle back to our schools. That's what we really need to do. We need to bring the paddle back, start bringing discipline back in our schools. And Joe Biden is a scary man and America should be really hesitant to see what he is doing. Because for a person to come and stand against school choice, that's evil.

MACCALLUM: Well, I don't know if a lot of people would agree with you on the paddle idea but I think that a lot of people would agree that we do need to not be afraid to have discipline of some form in some schools. And I know that during the Obama administration they really cut back a lot on, you know, suspending kids and all of that. That cut way back on it. We did see it makes a difference in terms of discipline in the school. So, always good to hear your opinion, sir.

BREWER: Hey, Martha, if they --

MACCALLUM: Yes, go ahead.

BREWER: -- if they come to the school where I spend time and mentor and teach, they will ask for that paddle to come back I tell you that.

MACCALLUM: We will see. Thanks for sharing your opinion tonight. Jack Brewer, always good to see you. Thank you, sir.

BREWER: God bless you.

MACCALLUM: You too. So, tomorrow night, “The Story” continues. We are going talk to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to respond what Joe Biden said there and explain her side of the story.

And up next, as Republicans and Democrats fine tune their messaging with 64 days -- 65 days until the elections. Wow. Exclusive insight tonight on which messages are moving the dial with those undecided voters, what do they care about? Fascinating. Coming up next.

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MACCALLUM: Sixty-four days to go until the election day and less than one month until the first presidential debate -- we can't wait for that. We've got new feedback from undecided voters on the messages resonating in 2020.

Here now, Lee Carter, pollster president partner of Maslansky and Partners. Great to have you here, Lee. Let's jump right in. This one is Joe Biden and you are going to analyze the dials for us. Let's watch.

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BIDEN: In order to keep the country running and moving and the economy growing, and people employed, you have to fix the virus. You have to deal with the virus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, if the scientists say shut it down --

BIDEN: I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE CARTER, PRESIDENT, MASLANSKY PARTNERS: Lee.

MACCALLUM: Shut it down and the green line which is undecides starts dropping like a stone.

CARTER: The green line undecided voters, they are really hard to find because there's only 8 percent of Americans who are undecided but they are going to decide the election. And what they decided is they do not want the economy shut down.

It was a clear flatline there. You could see that big drop. And it's not because they don't care and it's not because they are not invested in the virus. It's because they're concerned about their jobs, the economy, about their kids and their education. It can't just be a shut down. People are really afraid if that happen again. People need to know that there's going to be a plan in place for all those things to continue.

MACCALLUM: Yes. Well, no doubt that question will come up at the debates again, and we'll see how he answers that time. Here is Tim Scott in a very memorable speech at the RNC. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT, R-SC: If he lived long enough to see his grandson, become the first African-American to be elected to both the United States House and the United States Senate in the history of this country. Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime. And that's why I believe the next American century can be better than the last.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Wow. Running out of space there at the top of the dial. Everybody is turning it so hard to the right and Democrats as well.

CARTER: I mean, it was magic, right? One of the questions I get all the time is do Republicans and Democrats, can they agree on anything? They can and you saw it right there. And what that message is it's about the American dream. It's about hope. It's about a belief in a better future. We can all agree that's what we want, that's what we're looking for. This speech inspired the best in all of us and you can see that everybody agreed, Biden supporters, Trump supporters.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

CARTER: And undecideds alike.

MACCALLUM: Fascinating. One more. Here's Nikki Haley. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: In much of the Democratic Party, it's now fashionable to say that America is racist. That is a lie. America is not a racist country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, how do you read those dials?

CARTER: You can see there is a mixed reaction here, right? But the truth of the matter is this. You can see that even though undecided voters aren't exactly like Trump supporters, they do line up just a little bit more within than they did with the Democrats. And here's why.

People are really tired of all of the shaming that's happening right now. People are tired of racial injustice. Most people will say that it's enough is enough and we need to do better. But to call ourselves a racist country, to say that if you support Trump, you are a racist, it is something that people simply reject.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

CARTER: And those that are undecided, it actually repels them. And so, it's really important, I think, that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris get that message. It's not going to work if you shame people into trying to vote for you. It's just not going to change your mind. People want to hear a more positive message.

MACCALLUM: All right. I want to squeeze one more message. This is a sound bite Bill Maher talking to Joy Reid. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: It was very effective. I saw that one gentleman. I think he was the attorney general. He was pushing back on Joe Biden, saying, you know, if you vote for Trump, you are not black. I don't think that is a good thing for Joe Biden to accept. I feel very nervous.

JOY REID, HOST, MSNBC: Yes.

MAHER: The same way I did four years ago at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: He's talking about the attorney general Daniel Cameron from Kentucky there. And Bill Maher is feeling nervous as he watches what he saw at the RNC. Lee?

CARTER: Yes, you can see that, so as Michael Moore. A lot of people should be, because the message at the RNC did resonate. Joe Biden clearly has some work to do with Kamala Harris. They need to get their message out there because right now, they are not defined on what their message is.

Only one-third of voters out there say they know what Joe Biden's America looks like. Two-thirds say they know it's not Donald Trump and that's important enough. But one-third of voters out there want to hear more so he is going to make his case and get it out there.

MACCALLUM: Here we go. Sixty-four days to go. Lee, thank you. Good to see you.

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: Thank you so much.

MACCALLUM: Thanks for coming in tonight.

CARTER: Good to see you.

MACCALLUM: This is an amazing story which we'll be getting a lot more attention if there was all of this. A lot of stuff going on right now. U.S. marshals brough home 39 minors to safety in operation called Operation Not Forgotten. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr lauding law enforcement for giving these young lives freedom and a new safe home. He is up next.

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DONALD WASHINGTON, DIRECTOR, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE: These are not my kids, right? And these are not your kids. But actually, they are our kids when it's all said and done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So, while you are watching the conventions or getting caught up in the news of the protest in our cities, U.S. marshals were doing something life-saving. In just 14 days, they worked day and night with state and local police in Georgia. They rescued 39 missing or endangered children. Now safe and sound, thanks to Operation not Forgotten.

The minors ranged in age from 3 to 17 years old. Nearly half are believed to be victims of sex trafficking and now dozens of adults are facing related charges.

My next guest is helping to place many of those child victims in rehab programs. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr joins me now. Attorney General Carr, thank you for being here. This is a remarkable operation and I'm glad that you are here tonight. Tell us who these children are. What was their situation?

CHRIS CARR, GEORGIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, Martha, thank you for having me. And let me start by saying exactly what you did as we came into the segment. I want to praise law enforcement.

This was a great partnership led by the U.S. marshals, the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, our human trafficking prosecutions unit, and local law enforcement as well rescued 39 children, children that were at risk. Children that have been suspected victims of sex trafficking, exploitation, sexual abuse, physical abuse, had emotional mental health issues. Physical health issues as well. They were at risk.

But this is what you get when you have partnerships, people that care. This issue is an important issue. I have yet to meet the person that is pro- human trafficking. So, for us to be able to come together, bring these children, 39 children who will have their lives changed as a result of this operation.

MACCALLUM: I know your -- the agent said that some of the kids were too afraid to go with the agents at first. And that that can be a sign that they have been abused and that they, you know, are obviously too scared. They don't know if someone is going to help them or hurt them, right?

CARR: That's right. And that's why it's important to have nonprofit and healthcare partners such as the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Wellspring Living. We have an intake facility that Wellspring, which is a nonprofit, helps get those children the wraparound services they need.

Because when you think of the average age of a human trafficking victims are 12 to 14-year-old girl it's not just girls. But think of the age that they are in and the vulnerability of that age group. There can be education needs, healthcare needs, all different kind of needs. So, it's important to evaluate and get the help that those victims, those children absolutely need.

MACCALLUM: These agents are angels saving these children. And I think everybody should be grateful for what they are doing. Before I let you go, how has COVID-19 impacted the ability to help these children? Has it made it harder?

CARR: Well, what we know is criminals don't take time off just because of COVID-19. And that's why the preparation that went into this operation with our partners, again, the marshals service, our officers, human trafficking prosecutions unit, the GBI, the FBI, the agencies. It was critically important.

Because we know they don't take time off. We know they haven't stopped as a result of COVID-19. And that's just another layer of needs that these children have. And I'm just so proud of the role that our team played, this operation played. It was just great to be a part of it.

MACCALLUM: Yes. Well, we wish these children well. And our gratitude, obviously goes out to these marshals. I know there are so many other kids out there who are cowering in homes that they shouldn't be in who should also be protected and saved. And we hope that this operation can continue to be successful. So, thank you so much, Attorney General Carr.

CARR: Thank you, Martha. I appreciate it.

MACCALLUM: Good to have you here. Absolutely.

CARR: Thanks very much.

MACCALLUM: So, coming up, a momentous day in American history. Seventy- five years since America's victory over Japan in World War II. That is next. Don't go away.

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ANDRE CHAPPAZ, WORLD WAR II ARMY VETERAN: The guys said, the war is over. Next morning, the officers collected all the rifles. I hate it. I love my rifle. I didn't want to give it back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: This Wednesday marks 75 years since Japan's official surrender to the United States aboard the Missouri, the official end to World War II. To kick off the commemoration, the historic vintage warbirds will fly around Pearl Harbor for the legacy of peace aerial parade. We caught up with some of the veterans and pilots taking part and asked them what this occasion means to them. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were going in to end the war in our favor and that's what we did.

CHAPPAZ: He says, the war is over. And all the guy said, the war is over. Next morning, the officers collected all the rifles. I hate it. I love my rifle. I didn't want to give it back.

JERRY PEDERSEN, WORLD WAR II VETERAN ON USS MISSOURI: I was a PFC. But I was stationed aboard the USS Missouri crew that wanted to see it, that was able. They were in a part hole or all over the ship. You would see bodies hanging out of everything trying to observe this. Of course, I got to observe it from the close (Inaudible). But even then, I saw the backs of the Japanese as all of the faces of the representatives of (Inaudible) allied nations.

TONY VERICELLA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 75TH WWII COMMEMORATION: The significance of it is just overwhelmingly powerful. Here is also a connection back to September 2nd, 1945 when there were about 800 aircraft flying over Tokyo Bay and over the USS Missouri where the ceremony was really occurring.

DARRYLL WONG, 75TH COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE: The enthusiasm of the pilots and the crews that are coming here it took a lot of effort. But they want to make sure that people in a way saw whether some of the bird war that flew out here in the Pacific.

DUSTIN MOSHER, OWNER & PILOT OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT: For me personally, my grandfather was a World War II aviator, navy aviator in the last several years of World War II. And of course, flew (Inaudible) is part of his primary training. So, it's really a moving thing to be back here where he was all these years ago. Unfortunately, we lost him a couple years ago, but it's really fitting and nice to finally have a chance to come and see a place where a lot of the stories and things that I was told as a kid of his time in the navy happened.

DAN HILL, OWNER & PILOT OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT: My father was a career marine, 32 years in the Marine Corps. My father flew in all three wars, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. I'm a retired Delta Airlines captain. And my T28 Trojan I had for seven years is my hobby. And it was made in 1954 a U.S. Navy trainer. I enjoy with all my friends flying vintage warbirds in Southern California and doing events like this in Hawaii was just like a dream, a lifetime dream.

DIANE BARNEY, PILOT OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT: The message I have for World War II veterans is simple. You will not be forgotten. We won't forget you. We won't forget your stories. And I'm grateful for the small part I have to play to make sure that you remain a part of our cultural memory.

VERICELLA: We want you to remember this is all about, again, our World War II veterans and our greatest generation. Whether they served on the battlefront or on the home front, it's really all about them. We never want to forget all that they did for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Amazing. I so strongly encourage you, if you can find a way to go to Pearl Harbor and to go to the USS Missouri and the Arizona with your family. It is a trip you will never forget. I have the opportunity to do it when I was writing this book, "Unknown Valor." You will read more about the surrender in there in that book. And I would urge you to get that book as well. It's a great story. Great people in it.

Thank you for being here tonight. That's “The Story” for tonight. We'll see you tomorrow. Have a great evening, everybody.

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