Making these conversations possible and welcome to our audiences on facebook, youtube , twitter and of course axios. Com. We hope youll follow all using that hashtag axios events on twitter. Over the next 30 minutes ill be joined by mike allen and talk about voter turnout and how National Security will play a key role in the november elections. Now id like to welcome our firstguest , shes the ceo and president of vote latino, maria kumar joins us from newark newjersey. Hello. How are you doing . Im tired, but im so excited, thank you for having me. But were not on the road, but the biggest thing about t all this. Were not on the road but i dont know about you, also there is an end to the day on the road. Theres no end to the day when zoom and your office is also your dining room table which isalso next to the kitchen. I think thats right read i think the challenge is that by november 3 youre just, you dont want to seeanything. Im just very cool to be healthy. But we are like we set a week and a half away so are their Major Concerns that we talk about and hear about in terms of balancing ballots being counted, mail ballots being challenged, problems with schools on election day. Talk about what your group is doing right now in this final stretch and what areyou most concerned about . Are any of these supposed threats actually suppression efforts and how should we think about what were hearing . I think the most important piece is that we know that americans in general are really paying attention but africanamerican and latinos are taking more attention comes to how to access about box to sign with the majority of africanamericans and latinos dont trust the mailin process and they have every right to do so and in part because there has been study after study demonstrates sadly, signature matching is a impediment to making sure their vote counts. Weve seen in florida in the pastand in other states is that isif a signature doesnt match perfectly , disproportionately in black and latino communities their votes simply get thrown out and compared to other codes. So what were encouraging voter latino and so many folks are is to go and vote in person if its possible. Were seeing a surge in florida, in pennsylvania and arizona. That is not by accident and that is because of the concerted effort by the civil rights organizations to ensure that people are confident in their vote. You are encouraging them ha obviously can vote by mail but they are not wrong when they essentially feelthat their vote may not be counted equally. Coming into the election what i would predict is going to see not just a surge of voting across the board by all americans but its the patients that were going to need host november 3 to ensure that every single ballot is counted properly. Wisconsin and pennsylvania wont count their ballots until november 3 so you can imagine those nail biters of an election where in these key battleground states wont even know possibly for a week or two. We are the leaders in participation as a way to did we have become almost immune to the idea that i we have to wait sometimes 12 hours on disproportionately workingclass american and one of the things we should figure out after this election is how do we fix that . In the meantime though if you vote early night on election day but a couple days before election day you are likely to find anything less than a 12 hourur line. You are seeing some cases the bad again in places that have removed polling places in general but no for the most part you walk in and you also have a choice of Polling Centers when youre voting early whereas a november 3 youll have to go to your precinct and that is going to be, you have to be a very patient person to engage in that. I have a question. Let me t try to get some of thee then. And what states are latino voters mosts likely to have the biggest impact and why is the youth vote so. We have l been the leading Voter Registration outfit. Nin 2000 night we registered 200,000 as ofeg this morning we have registered over 567,000 new voters in six key battleground states and the states have become battleground for the most part, arizona, texas pennsylvania North Carolina georgia because florida is in there but we have seen an aging of young latinos comingofage. S since 2016, 4 million more young latino voters are eligible to vote. Every 30 seconds a young latino becomes eligible to vote so thats why we have a shifting in our electoral map of what is now considered a tossup. I was having a conversation with who leon castro in texas and i said what you think, texas is very much in play and you would have never thought this in 2016 but we have register roughly a quarter million new texans. We will mobilize 1. 5 million folks. We have close to 33 million in six key battleground states because we recognize all of this is about closing the Voter Registration gap and providing Key Information to mobilize any age. Spamming of young latino voters turned out at the polls as much as they could come as much as eligible registrations around there would be an overwhelming impact on the election no doubt. Although theres a clear majority in favor of voting for democrats in joe biden there some evidence of some latino voters like trump more now than they did four years ago and we saw some liking enthusiasm for biden over the summer among some latino voters. Im wondering how you explained it to transcend you think biden has done enough since the summertime to improve assurances or excitement among latino voters . Lets tackle the first question. But the Trump Campaign is done effectively in 2016 if he hasnt stopped talking to latino voters particularly in florida. Sadly theres a lot of disinformation and that is factual. The challenges is that they are getting messages that are very much blown out of socialism, communism and the reason you would want to elect a democrat like joe biden who is much more at the center soap combating it misinformation in florida in particular has been challenging. You will always have a sector of latinos and its usually around 20 or 25 of latino voters who are very conservative and choice is very important to them and therein are also a lot of veters so thats where we see that however when you shift to places like texas and arizona and georgia and North Carolina where you have seen local leadership that is trump with a small team where they have done racial profiling in immigration laws thats created hostility in the latino communities you dont see that. People are voting for Different Reasons for health care and also for trump and this is the first time in my 16 years of doing this work that racial nicklebys are the top three issues and not only are trump policies of the National Level impacting latinos disproportionally but you have texas giving a different level of anxiety at the local level. That is where we see a lot of mobilization. Her biggest challenge in our community is that there are 15 million of us who are notable ato vote who are still not registered. Thats the biggest challenge is closing that Voter Registration gap and thats because of the 50 million close to 10 million of us are younger than 33 years old so with biden the challenge for a long time is you couldnt knock on doors and he was dependent on conversations. Zoom conversations basically people who participate are already on your team. So what you are going to see now over the weekend is who leon castro hitting nevada arizona colorado and had back to texas. He needs more of that communication in order to help folks better understand what hes about because they dont teow what its about quitebe ye. The hope is that they will use this time wisely that way. We have a lot to watch this week for the election. Maria teresa kumar thank you for joining us axios today. Smith thank you so much for your conversation. Thanks to bank of america for making this program possible. After video fromomle our sponsor california congresswoman karen bass and political reporter stef kight. Racial inequities have only been widened with the coronavirus and amplified by the most recent acts of injustice. People around the world are coming together with greater emergency to demand action. A bank of america we have a role to play to over come the real consequences of inequity. This includes individuals governments nonprofit and the private sector. Racial equality and Economic Opportunity are linked. Thats why bank of america has given 1 million for four years for Affordable HousingHealth Care Employment and jobs and the resources businesses need to succeed. We can do more and we need to do more now to further advantage of quality and Economic Opportunity thank you again for sponsor bank of america. I am stef kight a reporter for axios. Our next guest is a represented californias 37th Congressional District congresswoman karen bass joining us from los angeles california. Congresswoman thanks so much are being here. Thanks for having meni on. Senate this has been an electionyear like none other. Far more americans are voting early in voting by mail than ever before. California is pretty broken state records for mailin voting. How do you see this impacting voter turnout in los angeles particularly among people of color . I think the turnout has been historic and i believe its going to continue. We are fortunate here in california and in los angeles especially. We are not concerned about some of the Voter Suppression tactics that have happened around the country. Thereve been a coupleco of incidents but i wouldnt call it voter c suppression. Its straight out of vandalism. We are getting in a good position i think well have a lot of as well. Awesome. Congresswoman you share the Congressional Black Caucus. Can you walk us through some of the priorities the cdc has for Biden Administration . Absolutely and interestingly we are preparing that in a more formal way right now. I will tell you that are number one, number two got the number three priority is covid. Up so we has to be because the impact on the africanamerican population is devastating and the Economic Impact is as well and in the educational impact. They do think about our children who have suffered from the achievement gap and what on earth is that gap going to look like when they will have been out of school for almost an entire calendar year with very uneven levels of access to on line education or consistency. It all starts with covid and policing is a major issue as well. If we dont pass that bill in the senate of course we did in the house but if we dont pass it before the end of the year of course it will be front and center on her agenda next year. Absolutely. Her name was floated earlier this year as a potential biden running mate and your name continues to come up for potential new roles in a new administration. If the biden harris ticket wins in november are you interested in serving on a cabinet or in the u. S. Senate . I have seen my name floated for all sorts of things and to be quite honest with you i really only have one focus right now and that is the next 13 days. Im very excited to think about that but i have to tell you in the house im extremely happy sharing the subcommittee on africa sharing best chairing the subcommittee on crime where work with issues that are close to my heart for the last several decades. Has the Biden Administration approach approached you at all about any potential positioned . The only thing im talking to the Biden Administration about his november 3. Speaking of november 3 we are a week and a half away from election day and im sure weve been hearing from a lot of americans they are very distrusting on the electoral processes in many ways. What do you say to them . First of all i think that is so sad. The main reason why people are distrustful is because thats what they hear out of the president s mouth. The idea that the president of the United States would sow division and dissension is just a tragedy and i cannot wait until we are past this time in our history. What i can tell them is the most important thing for people to do this time you cant do the election until november 3. Thats when the election ends. We have to do the election right now to be in one of those states where you can vote early or you can mail in your vote but heres the thing. All of us need to have a plan to vote so what i tell everybody theres a web site called i will vote. Com where you can put in your personal information and find out how and where to vote in your particular location. So in order to deal with all of have a plan but heres the other thing. Because the president has been so divisive im worried about all of those militias and proud boys and all of those white supremacist groups that support the president. He doesnt have a dog whistle he is a bullhorn and hes telling them to all come out and im really worried that the president of the United States is going to agitate violence during and after the election. He is even calling for people to go watch the polls. I talked to my colleagues around the country and they are watching the polls for one reason and thats to intimidate and dissuade people from voting. Given the president s remarks on these things and given the concerns about unrest and violence after november 3 what role did democrats like yourself play . How should democrats be to respond after election day . Well we need to be extremely vigilant. We need to know whats going on inin our district. Some of my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus have described situations where there are white constituents either in or outside of the district that are making it very clear that they are going to bring be prepared. This is the kind of thing we see inin other countries never in te United States and its just such a tragedy and its really because things are rotten at the top. You are also a member of the judiciary and Foreign Affairs committee. Do you plan to continue your investigation into donald trump even if joe biden wins in november . Well you know there might ease some of us that have to continue. One of the things although i will be extremely happy in january to witness President Biden advise president harris be sworn in. That will be a glorious day it on the other hand they are going to have to go in and look at every single federal agency because the level ofag corruptin scandal and controversy they are going to have to go in and clean up and i think its going to take them their first term to clean up the damage,n the wreckage that has been done by this administration. As chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and as we look forward to the Bided Administration that is expected to be if he wins in November November how d. C. Representation inif government growing and howo you think that will impact parents and teachers . Will be critical considering that administration we have now is one of the most diverse of administrations we have seen in the idea that President Biden will come in and. An administration that looks like america think will send a wonderful signal. Part of the stress that is going on is because we have a president that has created so much anxiety amongst people about the fact that america is getting browner and browner and in the next couple of decades americas going to be a majority minority country very much like california. Thats what california is like right now they think the diversity in my state,gh i love and i look forward to the country being as diverse. We need a president like President Biden who i believe will help americans understand that this doesnt mean someone is going to take something from them. They are going to lose by it and theyll do better internationally when our country in terms of leadership does reflect the population. Thats going to send a wonderful signal to the world. President biden and Vice President harris will have to clean up our image around the world as well because people are laughing at us and the entire world is watching us to find out what happens. We cannot. Thank you so much. Im so sorry we have to wrap up. We are out of time. I appreciate your response that question. Thank youpo for coming in congresswoman karen bass and thank you to our sponsor bank of america. State tuned for final session with mike allen and h. R. Mcmaster. Thank you to bank of america for making these conversations possible. Next guess is army general h. R. Mcmaster most recently president comes National Security adviser and before that general mike astor led soldiers and organizations for 34 years including in iraq and afghanistan and a west point graduate. Is it ph. D. From chapel hill. General h. R. Mcmaster welcome back. Think you. Its a pleasure to be with you. General you are in a battleground and this is not yourba typical washington servie that this is a scholarly book. 70 pages of notes bibliography recommended reading. You took it very seriously. What was alike to switch switch hats and such a big way . Maybe a was a bit predictable for an army officer. I made a Mission Statement for my cell phone as i transitioned to my second career and my life third if you count my time working at a famous restaurant named mcdonalds before going to west point at age 17 but what i want to do is help deepen americans understanding of the most crucial challenges we face so we can Work Together to build a Better Future for generations to come. This book is foundational to that effort with my crew at the Hoover Institution at stanford university. General mcmaster you talk in battleground you were told along with your staff what did you learn from that about what they are up to . Is important to understand russias engaged in a sustained campaign of clinical subversion against us and they do employ this approach of disruption disrupting the effectiveness of our government that was part of theth attack on the socalled fire Mcmaster Campaign and they attacked our National Security center staff are you particular mary of foreignpolicy and National Security but also the broad effort is to disrupt us and use disinformation to shake our confidence in who we are so people to polarize our society and us against each other in particular to shake our confidence in our democratic principles institutions and processes. What i write about in the book is the truth that denies the most brazen efforts so its important for us to counter this pernicious effort to bring us down. Russia cant compete with us and put knows he cant compete with us on our own terms so russias operating under the theory that he can be the last man standing because he will be successful at shaking confidence within our Democratic Society in europe and the United States in particular. This week we saw the director of National Security that the fbi caught russia and iran already meddling in the u. S. Election. How worriedec are you about ther success in disrupting the selection of ahe lifetime . Im not worried about it at all. The reason isou i think we have really improved. This is largely an untold story and of course as National Security adviser and 2017 and then in 20 team. Tell us one thing you personally did to shake that up. Same of the most important thing we did is focus our intelligence collective efforts on this Pernicious Campaign and we took the gloves off of our cyber forces in o recognition that a good Cyber Defense with the cyber enabled information requires a good offense. A close second to that is the effort to protect our Cyber Infrastructure bradley and our election infrastructure particular. As you know we have aar decentralized system that our federal government is working very closely with the states to make sure we can have confidence in the sanctity of our election process. I know you stayed in close touch with whats going on in your quest to america. What is the biggest thing that russias change what they are up to the 2020s cycle when youd delved into it after 2016 . They are continuously adapting. Initially it was quite obvious. You can quickly identify the false persona and the source of the bot for example. They are working on moscow Business Hours so you could see that thats when the traffic would spike but what they are doing is doubling down on this effort to divide us. In 201680 of the bots controlled the election to polarize us on issues of race and gun control and immigration as well. It doesnt. Divisions in our society but they do their best to widen those divisions in our society and to us against each other reduce our confidence in who we are our common identity as americans. Thats why think education about this problem is so important. Americas will be less susceptible to this campaign of disinformation. General in the book you say all president s not just President Trump get put in wrong. This is our tendency like a strategic narcissism to define the world only in relation to us and this depends on what we are going to do. Its going to change and it will be like the grinch with christmas. Of course president george w. Bush went to visit putin and said secretary of state Hillary Clinton brought lavrov and obama was ceding keeping the seat warm for putin and. Off for missile defenses and the hopes that we will see we are wwelcoming them back into the western community and then of course President Trump criticize has difficulty criticizing president putin for some reason. What i i write about in battleground is the ideology and emotion that drives him. He is stricken by a sense of honor lost associated with the breakup of the soviet union and the loss of the cold war and then also this drive to restore national greatness. Hes determined to drag us all down like the kgb operator is. Hes quite adept at it. Its one of the best liars and deceivers in the world so one of the lessons is lets stop being chumps about this and lets recognize putin for who he is and maybe by imposing additional costs to the kremlin may factor into their decisionmaking when they take these aggressive actions whether its the invasion of crimea or ukraine and the poisoning of recently navalny. I think he is content to be emboldened because we ought to impose costs on him. For example germany. I think that could be powerful if there was Economic Loss for the sustained campaign of aggression against us. General mcmaster you said that they are his and his reluctant to and you and others have elected to criticize him. Why do you think the criticism of the president is so muted by the people . I havent criticize President Trump at all. I think you can find with the Google Search 30 times where the president words that the president is wrong and to aid in these efforts to deny what is completely obvious. This is what my friend National Security adviser segue called plausible reliability. Its important to criticize bill years of policy and actions by an a president by others like giving putin space on what i write about in battleground i see a tendency for Leaders Within both parties to compromise our runcible says americans for partisan political advantage. That is one of the ways put in place as so we had to stop doing that. By raising doubts about what is super obvious. Would i describe in the book is President Trumps tendency to conflate three related questions that the same questions. Did they meddle in the election . As they did. I think what they want to do in 2016 is what they want to do in 2020 which is no matter who wins raises doubts among us about the legitimacy of the results and to have dirt to weaponized against them. In 2016 its important to recognize that russia is ready to launch a campaign saying Hillary Clinton won the election because the election was rigged. They were as surprised as most americans and maybe even donald trump was about the election of 2016 and the shift of the campaign. He won so they want us to think our elections are rigged so that president statements his administration has done quite a bit to secure our counterproductive and play right intomp the kremlins hands. General youve been inside the west wing in ways that very few people have. Would you say President Trumps a good leader . You know i think hes the elected president of the United States mike and what ive tried to do as National Security adviser and serving as since the age of 17 and select help the president succeeds so i respect his decision so i think thats for the American People to decide who should be the next president. I thinkne my role as a retired military officer is to help americans make that decision and what i. In the book is described more fully the challenges we are facing, challenges that arent going away while we are at each others throats politically and i hope what readers might do but do is toht use that descriptions a criteria for both candidates. Nobody talk about Foreign Policy for these challenges because we are so enmeshed in this partisanship and the personalization of politics these days. We need to celebrate the fact that we are not a monarchy. Everything about President Trump and vice President Biden are leaders in congress as well. General we have a series called the road ahead. If vice President Biden were to win the election would you feel safe and what americans secrets be safe with a President Biden . I think we should have confidence in whomever america elects and we should allll try o help that president succeed. I think thats what we are looking at these days. We have to break this tendency of an administration coming in especially in the area of foreignpolicy and National Security and defining your policies is in opposition to the predecessor. I read about challenges that it shouldnt matter if you are republican or democrat to when they attacked us in 2001 they didnt target republicans, they attacked america. We can come together initially around issues of foreignpolicy and National Security. The last question you knew vice President Biden when he was on the hill and you act did with him. Who around Vice President of potential Biden Cabinet and and white house would you feel safe and secure about having a leadership role . The person i know the best is Michele Flournoy who has been talked about as a potential secretary of defense. Shes extremely good. She took a lot of positions when she was a secretary of defense for policy. Especially in iraq and afghanistan or are premature withdrawal from both of those places. Sadly President Trumps in many ways replicated the efficiencies soa im hoping is michele flourno is nominated and does become secretary of defense shes a strong voice for sustained engagement for the 9 11 attack against us. Name something specific about joe biden i would make us feel safe and secure in his presidency. I think he will bring experience into the job if he is sworn in on january 20. I mentioned i dont know him well enough but i do think what i would like to see if he comes in as a different approach to foreignom policy. I think successful demonstrations have seen the middle east mainly as a mess to be avoided and not that we should have troops in there. I think id like to see a fundamentally different approach to policy they are in policy toward iran. They think the threat was in retrospect to mistake because it failed to consider the ideology that drives the Islamic Republic in iran into place that into context of irans 40 yearlong proxy war against the grades state of us in the little state of israel and the monarchies in the west. I hope if it is a lighted that this administration will take an approach to Foreign Policy that many ways fundamentally different from the obama administrations foreignpolicy. I think it would be a mistake if we turn the clock back. My point is no not should define their policy as an opposition to the predecessor. Take the good and amplify it and take the bad and corrected. I will tell our audience they can follow you on twitter at lt g. H. R. Mcmaster. General mcmaster you said you didnt vote in the past. The reason i didnt vote at the age of 17 is to follow the example of general George Marshall a great secretary of state who came up with the Marshall Plan and our response to soviet aggression. I have Great Respect for him and he kept that in the military and politics by going to the extreme of never voting. Thats what i did but i do think its important for political leaders not to drag the military into partisan politics. We have to recognize that our founders are concerned about that. George washingtons grandparents fought the violence of the english civil war so this is an important element of democracy and we have to be careful to preserve that line. They dont care what your races or your religion or your orientation. I think its very important for us to preserve that a political nature of the military. Inat the Marshall Plan why dd you vote for the first time . Im retired. Im not in the army but i do think as a retired officer i should do my part to preserve that. I choose not to add my name to ddthese dueling was a bad mall n general endorsements for example. Sii respect my former College Decision to do that or to write up this but it comes with the danger associated with it of dragging the military toward partisan politics. General i have to ask you did you vote for her your old boss President Trump . I think one of the great things about democracy is the secretec ballot so im determind not to share how i bowed. General mcmaster thank you for battleground and thank you for all youve done for this country of your life and for the honor of this conversation. Thank you. The honor is mine. The pleasure to be with you. Thank you very much general mcmaster and thank you bank of america for making this conversation possible and i hope you join us for the next road ahead after the election on november 6 and i will see you on axios. Com. Florida may be a state that can be called because they will count so much of their early voting so we have states like michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania and other states could be determinative in this election. They have a policy that limits how early they can count their absentee ballot. I think cybersecurity experts are less concerned right now about the threat to vote counting than they have been in years past. Thats because of the increase in paper records and increase cordish among the states and the federal government. Theres a lot of reasons to feel good and this election will be better. You and i grew up in period in which people voted for someone they like or they want to vote who they like her president. That turns out not to be true donald trump. He only got a 42 or 43 Approval Rating so he can possibly win. Thats just not sure. People who dont like him dislike the way he operates because they like his attitude. National security adviser Robert Obrien talks about creating more business relationships in africa and current cybersecurity threats. He spoke at the Hudson Institute good morning. Welcome to the Hudson Institute. We are honored and privileged to be hosting this great event, conversation e with robert obrn assistant to the prent