Joined by former attorney general eric holder, who has been working on redistricting for years now with president obama and he has been advocating for democratic nominee emma joe biden. Two great guests today. First, i wanted to run through my notebook with the headlines im paying attention to in these final days. Number one, florida remember tim russert 20 years ago in 2000 said that was the focus for that election. It seems to be the focus once again. Biden andPresident Trump in florida today. They know that that corridor is vote rich. You see them going to broward county, making sure black voters come out strong. We will talk about Voter Suppression in florida and across the country, but it is notable that in florida, five days to go, its where they are both paying attention to. President shows vice biden is ahead narrowly, 50 1 , with likely voters, President Trump is 47 of likely voters, and that is within the polls margin of error. In pennsylvania, a deadly shooting of a black man in philadelphia has roiled the campaign and Vice President biden has seized on the news in pennsylvania of rising number of coronavirus cases that has exceeded now 200,000 in that state. , ayou see in pennsylvania competing narrative from the trump side, law order, knocking Vice President biden, but Vice President biden is being critical of any rioting and looting and really swinging that spotlight in pennsylvania on the pandemic. My sources tell me he is speaking to suburban voters as well as urban voters with that kind of message. Immigration, cant forget about that, Vice President biden knows it is key to get the latino vote out and he knows be on the latino vote, you have suburban people paying attention to this issue as well. Inking about children being separated from their families and how biden has announced a task force about making sure immigration is in the headlines in the final days. Real quick, Vice President ial candidates, senator harris is reaching out to historically black universities today. Vice president pence is in iowa, making sure evangelical voters come out and speaking to conservative voters in nevada. Right now, i want to bring in eric holder, the former attorney general, the 82nd attorney general. Hes chairman of the democratic redistricting committee. Welcome to the program. Mr. Holder thank you for having me. I look forward to the conversation. Robert you are tracking Voter Suppression and redistricting efforts across the country, but lets start with Voter Suppression. What are you paying attention to five days to go . Mr. Holder the concerns i have about the long lines, which i think reflect overwhelming enthusiasm by the American People, but i also note that if studies show you are africanamerican, youre seven times more likely to have to wait in line one hour more than your counterpart. Im concerned about that. Im concerned about the measures being taken by the Republican Party to keep people away from the polls and they are going so far as to say they dont want to count all the votes that have been cast. There have been lawsuits in texas to somehow take those votes that have already been cast by people who drove up in their cars and not count those votes. It strikes me, this is something i think is a major differentiator between the parties. Democrats want as many people devote as possible, want all the votes to be counted, republicans want to restrict the number of people who can vote and then apparently dont want to count all the votes. That is inconsistent with who we say we are as an american democracy. Robert we remember 10 years ago, the republicans sweeping across not only congressional races but state houses. Are democrats going to do better this time around in winning state seats and state legislative seats . Mr. Holder could question. I think democrats are going to do a lot better. Quite frankly, democrats did not focus on the state legislative races that we should have in 2010. As a result, the 2011 this redistricting went well for republicans and led to the gerrymandering we have seen that has affected our politics over the course of this last decade. Democrats are focusing now on state level races and it certainly something i have been doing, going around the country that i get it this is an existential president ial election, but you have to focus on these down ballot races and the state races will probably have a greater impact on your life on a daytoday basis because these are where decisions are made on womens reproductive rights, criminal Justice Reform will come from the states out of health care a lot of Health Care Decisions will come from the states as opposed to the federal government. Be morecan you specific, which states do you believe democrats will be best and on the state level . Mr. Holder i think we are going to do in a whole bunch of states because of the work we have done what we have independent commissions drawing the lines. Michigan, north carolina, i expect we will do well in texas, ohio, pennsylvania there have been structural changes we have put in place to make the vote more fair this time. Inthe extent we had concerns 2010, those will not be replicated in 2020. Robert when you look at a state like florida, where the candidates are telling me where the candidates are going today, my sources are telling me white voters are casting ballots at a higher rate than black voters. What does that mean for this campaign . Im not sure thats true. I see pretty extensive amount of support and enthusiasm by africanamerican voters. Not only for the candidacy of joe biden and kamala harris, but as a reaction to the efforts to suppress the vote in the africanamerican committee africanamerican community. I have not seen those kinds of reports. Im confident we will see a robust turnout in the African American community, not only in florida, but around the country. Robert do you believe the Biden Campaign is fully prepared for the post election fights in the courts . Mr. Holder i think we are. I hope it doesnt come down to a fight post election and the courts. I think we can avoid that by simply counting all the votes. I think there will be a winner and i expect it will be a pretty decisive winner. But to the extent it comes down to a court battle, we have lawyers at campaign headquarters, lawyers all around the country, im working with groups who are interested in these issues to coordinate to the extent we can, so we have our legal bases all covered. Robert what about the doj . You know it as well as anyone. You were attorney general of the United States. When you look at attorney general barr, how do you think he is position for this election . Is anything concern you . Mr. Holder it gives me a great deal of concern. As well aslicans democratic attorneys general, they have been a player for fairness and have posted monitors where you expect to see problems. I dont expect that from the Justice Department this time. If the Justice Department were autral, that would be disappointment, not focusing on fairness. This attorney general has weaponized the Justice Department in service to the president that appointed him and that gives me a great deal of concern. Robert how has he weaponized it . For doing coming out things that are consistent with the president best political interest, whether its interfering in cases that put supporters of the president at risk with regard to manafort, stone, people like that. With regard to the way in which they have taken position in election cases, theres a whole variety of ways this attorney general has put the Justice Department on the side of the president as opposed to the people. Friend and longtime ally, president obama, was in florida earlier this week. Where do you believe he should go in the final few days of this campaign . Mr. Holder first of all, i think hes getting a few things off his chest, so that was interesting to watch. I think hes going to go to the places he needs to be. Certainly florida, i think the industrial midwest is a place that will require some attention toward the end of the election process. I think democrats are still suffering ptsd from what happened in 2016 and do not want to repeat what is perceived to be a mistake by not devoting attention to michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania pennsylvania is obviously a critical state, but i dont think we should forget michigan and wisconsin as well. Robert what is your assessment of the Postal Service at this moment and its ability to manage all the ballots coming through . Mr. Holder the Postal Service has been crippled. As i said in a tweet yesterday or the day before, people need to not use the purse not use the Postal Service, rely on the Postal Service to get there ballots to the balloting places on time. Theres been a deliberate attempt by the trumpet ministration postmaster general to decrease the ability of the Postal Service to handle this Record Number of mailin ballots. Studies show firstclass mail deliveries are down well below 90 , which is i pink an acceptable rate. And they have been successful which i think is an acceptable rate and they have been successful. But nows not a time to rely on the mail to get your ballots in on time. Robert on the Voter Suppression question, does the physical activity at polling places and intimate asian the people who are concerned their vote might not count because of a mistake on the envelope where they didnt fold something correctly, how could that affect the final tally . Mr. Holder i dont know the extent to which this will be a problem, but it is something that gives me a concern. Which is why my organization filed lawsuits in a variety of places to try to make sure the ballots dont get tossed for crazy reasons. Signature matches how many people can say your signature has remained absolutely constant over the course of your life . To make sure people are doing the right thing, the problem in pennsylvania with naked ballots, not putting your ballot into the security envelope, there are a variety of things people are unfamiliar with the mailin ballot process that perhaps have not done in that gives me some concern that ballots that are legitimately filled out for technical reasons might not accounted, so im very worried about that. Robert you have seen the rise of militia groups nationwide, the threats on different democratic governors. Is the department of justice under President Trump doing enough to address that threat . Mr. Holder it depends on what part of the Justice Department youre looking at. If you look at the fbi, i think director ray has rightfully called up the problem with these white supremacist groups and expressed those are of primary concerns. I have not seen the same kind of rhetoric coming out of the attorney general, Deputy Attorney general, they have been i think notably and unfortunately silent when it comes to that. I have great faith in the men and women of the Justice Department, the career folks, and great faith in the people at the fbi. I think these problems will be handled but i think a tone of an acceptance has to be expressed by the leaders of this nation and i would expect to hear the president come out against with these militia groups have done in michigan, i would expect to hear that from the attorney general and they have not given voice to the concerns i think they ought to have to the extent they should. Robert if Vice President biden wins the white house, should he retain chris wray as fbi director . Mr. Holder i dont see any reason why he should not finish out his 10 year term. Those 10 year terms are there so you have stability at the fbi, so you dont have what you had i dontector hoover, so see any reason why people would have laws lost faith in the job hes done. He has had a tough job trying to navigate what the president has thrown at him and a criticism that has come this way. I supported his nomination and i dont see any basis now to not hold him on. Do you support the effort to prosecute President Trump potentially if he loses the election out of office . Mr. Holder that is something that i think has to be considered. I think a look has to be taken at the cases that might be made against him, not the least of which is the case that involved michael where the president was individual number one. Thats a threshold determination that has to be made, but and accountability is something i think has to be a guide. But we also have to understand what would the impact be of the prosecution of a former president . A nation that wants to heal, a new administration that wants to enact a program it ran on, would that be too large a distraction . Theres going to be a tension between accountability and the desire to move on. Robert how do you lean in that tension . Mr. Holder i think given the breadth of corruption we have seen in the trump administration, i tend to lean toward accountability. Not only with regard to the president , but those who served within the administration and abuse their offices. If Vice President biden wins, are you open to returning to a cabinet position . Mr. Holder [laughter] that is something i havent really considered. I would try to serve in any way that i can but i suspect the Vice President and the new Vice President , harris, have their eyes on may be some new folks to serve in the cabinet. Thing here you were probably watching the final days, vicein recent President Biden talked about his regrets on immigration during the obama years. Do you share his regrets about not being able to enact comprehensive Immigration Reform . Mr. Holder im not sure i would call it regrets. But regrets in the result we have to remember a bipartisan bill came out from the United States senate and the people who were behind that think i think deserve a great deal of credit. That bill never got a vote in the house of representatives. John boehner never put that measure before the house. They knew it would have passed. The Freedom Caucus prevented that thing from being presented. I regret the fact comprehensive Immigration Reform was not acted upon. It could have been acted upon, but republican failures in house prevented it from occurring. To the extent i have any regrets, it is the needed leadership and house of representatives. Toert if you are not ready jump back into the cabinet life, who do you think Vice President biden, if he wins, should pick at the next attorney general . Mr. Holder i think hes got a lot of good choices. I think you ought to look for somebody who has some degree of familiarity with the department. I dont think this is the time for people learning on the job, and 70 who will be able to meet the moment, somebody who will be able to deal with the civil unrest that has engulfed our nation, the need for criminal Justice Reform, and enhanced Justice Department effort at protecting the right to vote. Somebody whos got that experience and some buddies got the ability to meet the moment and who is going to be politically savvy. There will be a lot of things thrown at the next attorney general, fair and unfair, that will require some degree of political acumen. Robert no name mentioned. We will leave it there. Attorney general eric holder, we appreciate your time and i hope you come back soon. Mr. Holder thank you for having me. Robert i will now turn to former House Speaker newt gingrich, who is a longtime supporter of President Trump over the past four years. He served as the 50th speaker of the house of representatives. Speaker gingrich, welcome back to Washington Post live. Mr. Gingrich good to be with you. Have you back. A few years ago, we werent talking about georgia as a battleground, the state you represented in congress for years, now it is a battleground. Are you worried about President Trumps chances in that state . Mr. Gingrich im not worried about it. I think you will carry the state. But it certainly more of a fight that would have been a few years ago and i think you have to give Stacey Abrams and other some credit for how much they have gone out and organized and have gotten people registered, which is what america should be all about. In the end, President Trump will carry georgia and i suspect in have both u. S. Senate seats. But it is more of a fight that would have been 12 years ago. Have those suburbs around atlanta changed over the last 20 years . Mr. Gingrich i think they are more diverse ethnically. I think they are probably more moderate on social part social policy than they would have been. I think the democrats have been very effective in organizing and suburban areas, not just in georgia but around the country. Its one of their great strengths. On the other hand, republicans are enormous well organized when you get beyond into the exurbs and rural counties. The margins are going to roll up in those areas are pretty enormous and you cant quite tell how the votes will work. Stacey abrams lost the governorship in part because she lost a significant number of africanamerican males in rural georgia who found her to be too much of a big city person, to antigun, and too dismissive of agriculture. Camege part of the margin from African American males who repudiated the democratic nominee. Trump what is the campaigns closing message on the economy . On one level, you have more than 20 million Americans Still on some form of unemployment benefits. You have people who have fallen into poverty, but you see the 7. 4 ,p numbers, growth at in recent months. Theres a lot of pain out there but the business side of the economy is trying to tout some recovery. Is it too much, too late for President Trump . Mr. Gingrich gallup did a survey about three weeks ago and 56 of the country said despite everything they were better off than four years ago under obama and biden. At that point, i thought thats a hint of where the election is going to end up. The numbers for the president today, he has to be ecstatic 33 increase in the gdp and one quarter. Vicepossibility that President Biden could come anywhere close to matching that kind of aggressive growth. So the president s message is simple do you want an economic recovery with trump, back to a world with the lowest black unemployment, lowest latino unemployment in history, or do you want a long, slow, painful, somewhere between a nonrecovery and depression with biden . I think thats a very powerful message and i hope the president will spend the first third of every single speech from now until election day just driving home that simple message. If you like unemployment and you like poverty, joe biden is your candidate. Been talking to voters in pennsylvania in recent days. Its clear some of those suburban republicans do agree with what you just said, they believe President Trump would be better on the economy for them personally, for their communities. At the same time, some of those voters have expressed disappointment without President Trump has handled the pandemic. How much of a political burden is the federal response to this crisis . Mr. Gingrich i think its much more of a burden because of the news media. After the news media spent months saying look, better the europeans are doing, the french Just Announced a complete shut down, the germans have announced a complete shut down, the italians are in the process of announcing a complete shut down, and its going to turn out President Trump saved a lot more lives and brand a much more opaque randy much more effective plug much more effective programmed ended the europeans. The larger loss of lives was run by democrats that put seeing homes they should not have been in and proudly in the process killed thousands of senior citizens. Trump can make a pretty good case he has reacted aggressively, reacted before anyone else said he could on china. The fact is biden did say trump was xenophobic. Pelosi went to chinatown and said you shouldnt be worried about china. The president said to heck with that and cut off all the flights Donald Trumps entrepreneurial style, his aggressive outreach to business, they have the largest fastest Vaccine Development in history. Its going to prove to have historicughs that are that under a joe biden style government would have taken years and with donald trump, it will take nine months. You mentioned speaker pelosi. Standstill are at a between her and steven mnuchin. What is the political cost of that for this white house . Mr. Gingrich i think almost nothing. Donald trump stands for a future in which Small Business and real private sector jobs are at the heart of it. Joe biden stands for a future in which paying off employee unions is a part of it. Its a different vision of where america is going to be. My hunch is that the Small Business trump model beats the joe biden unionized model by a big margin. You have expressed confidence just now about the president s response to the pandemic at the polls show it has been a problem for him politically. Do you just not believe the polls on that . Time you have,ny this is the largest disruption of American Life since world war ii. Anytime you are the president with that scale disruption, you have a problem. Sometimes, he has made it harder. Sometimes, he has done things that are brilliant. Its a problem, a huge challenge. The American People have a more balanced view of all of the different characteristics and they think about how radical the San Francisco candidate elect, harris is. And how weak joe biden seems to be in the basement and the difference in the two parties and the truth is despite with the news media has done, 92 negative coverage was the last report. Trump is still very competitive. I guess is he will win 326 electoral votes and the left will be in total shock. Media, bute the news you acknowledge he has made mistakes. It cant all be news media coverage, can it . Besome point, there has to sponsor ability for the president s own conduct. Mr. Gingrich you dont want to go down this road. The fact is, the American News media has been tried trying to destroy donald trump for four years and they still are today. The unwillingness to uncover joe biden correction, the eagerness to cover anyone who is smearing trump. Antitrump, the news media is eager to run it. The Washington Post in 1972 said of woodward and bernstein, dont look into nexen nixon. Trump has made mistakes, but for petes sake, any president who faced a pandemic on this scale would have made mistakes and most of those were in concert with health experts. Podcast with dr. Fauci in early february and he reassured me this was not a pandemic. This was Something Like sars. Lets be clear, trump worked with people who often made mistakes. When you deal with change of this scale, youre going to make mistakes. So has the head of great britain, france, spain, italy. Nevertheless, everyone has made mistakes except for the chinese. The chinese dont make mistakes because they kill you if you say that. The result is they have a totally different record because nobody has a clue whats going on. Which states are you watching in the final five days . Mr. Gingrich i try to watch about 12 states, but i would say the interesting ones are pennsylvania and i dont know what the riots are going to do in philadelphia. My hunch is that the mistake on fracking and energy probably sealed the deal and trump will carry pennsylvania. If you look at wisconsin where the most recent survey said that trump was 17 points behind. Yesterday i offered to put up a thousand dollars to anyones Favorite Charity if the person who offered that paul poll would be willing to watch it. I am watching wisconsin. I am also watching the outliers like nevada, minnesota. New mexico, because of joe bidens mistake on fracking and oil and gas. Southern new mexico is very heavily energy dependent. Is doing much better with latinos than four years ago. He is also doing dramatically better with africanamericans. I were a democrat, that would have me terrified. Thannt have to get more 2040 . You believe he is breaking through even with his law and order message is there is a racial reckoning . Are the average africanamerican living in a neighborhood where people get shot on the weekend, you think that law and order is a good message. 80 of americans want more police not fewer police and its own the people who are very welloff who can live in nice sanctuaries. Although Small Businesses that just got burned down in none of them think that joe bidens approach makes any sense. Speaker gingrich, we appreciate your time this afternoon. We are now going to be joined by my colleague at the Washington Post. She covers senator kamala harris. Great to have you here. Thank you for having me. Five days to go, what do you make about where she is going and what she is saying . That thek its clear Biden Campaign sees her as being able to reach groups that joe biden might not match in the same way. She has met with a lot of africanamerican and Latino Community leaders. Who she is speaking to and the settings really reflects the way the Campaign Needs her as someone who has a lot of credibility with the black community and latinos since her parents are immigrants. That has been her target the last few months. Has the biden and Harris Campaign found it difficult to explain her prosecutorial record to Traditional Democratic voters . I think it is something that comes up. I have heard that she has had private calls with black activists and is in contact with the attorney that represents a lot of the families [indiscernible] those are constant conversations. She took a lot she took care of a lot of the concerns we saw in the primary about her being the attorney general in california. She met with a lot of activists and did a lot of outreach. Whether that was geared toward her being on the ticket or not who knows. A lot of people believe she is an open air at this point and that wasnt necessarily the case a year ago. Frankly its her against the alternative, its not too much of a close call. They are willing to overlook some things just like they are with joe biden. You covered the campaign closely. Do you noticeer comfort at the sign of has this been an easy fit for her . It has been a natural fit for her. Something that has tripped her up occasionally was when she would get into the policy nittygritty and try to separate herself from her fellow candidates. Thats not to say she doesnt know what shes talking about. It was hard to differentiate herself then. Everyone of those things she was talking about could be the difference could be the difference between her and Elizabeth Warren or someone else. Now, she basically just has to say heres what Vice President biden stands for and on with him. That his enabled her to take that conversation to a bigger picture. About the future of america and the things that joe biden likes to think about and put her in a more comfortable zone where she can say were not those guys. I think thats a really good fit for her because she is more practical than hammering the same message like Elizabeth Warren or bernie sanders. What shes able to do right now is adjust to a time where all she has to do is be able to prosecute the case against donald trump. I have seen her own zoom calls and virtual calls. She was on 60 minutes. What is her availability today with the press . With joe biden, its fairly limited. They have a small people small pool of people they are allowing to follow her. She lands, she will take a question or two. Shes been available for local interviews at every stop. She has been very present on that stations and sites traditionally cater to black americans. She has been very available to reporters from those outlets. She has been very available, but its not a daily question answer session. There are topics that she has not had to confront is often. Campaign, what is the reaction been to criticism how has the harris scene that column . Back, whats around her has been were not going to touch that, were not going to address it. Want to do anything that we find is a racist criticism of kamala harris. This comes with the territory. What we have seen since she has been the president ial nominee is more overtly racist and sexist arguments made about her by republicans. That has riled up a lot of people in her inner circle. She still hasnt changed her tack. It doesnt address it at all. She could be swatting those things away all day. They believe those criticisms dont hold a lot of water with people who are trying to attract and turn out to the polls. I appreciate you coming by to share your reporting and give us some insight into senator harris and her campaign. Thank you all for joining us. Its good to dig in with newsmakers and reporters. I have nursing and like this campaign. Please join us tomorrow at 1 p. M. Eastern time and all next week. On friday i will talk to advisors at the white house. Later today, that will be at 2 20 five today, i will speak to larry kudlow. About the latest gdp numbers, the u. S. Economy. Again that is 2 25 this afternoon and under an hour. Larry kudlow will be with me to talk about the economy. More now and next weeks election from the Bipartisan Policy Center with a look at the voting process and what to anticipate when the Election Results are coming in next tuesday. This is one hour. Days away from the election and theres a lot of information
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