Transcripts For KPIX CBS Evening News With Norah ODonnell 20240712

With more votes now counted, absentee and early ballots have dramatically shifted the lead in several battleground states from President Trump to joe biden. As we come on the air tonight, cbs news is now projecting that joe biden has won the pivotal battleground state of michigan, along with its 16 electoral votes. The former Vice President is also the presumptive winner in has 10in, which has ten electo electoral votes, though the Trump Campaign has already filed for a legal recount. Tonight, both campaigns say they are confident they see a route to the white house. Though mr. Biden said he would not declare victory until all of the votes are counted. Overnight, President Trump falsely said he had won the election, and would go all the way to the Supreme Court to stop ballots from being counted, a legal option he does not have. Now, the president is already heading to court tonight, trying to stop the vote count in pennsylvania. And while the results from tuesdays election are not clear, one thing is more americans turned out than have in more than 100 years. Theres a lot of new reporting coming in tonight, as the votes are still being counted, our team of correspondents is fanned out in the battleground states. But we want to begin tonight with cbs Major Garrett with the latest results from those key battleground states and what it means in the road to 270. So major, some stunning developments today. Reporter indeed, norah. Lets catch our audience up on whats happened today. Projections for former Vice President joe biden in wisconsin and michigan. The rest of the map you see in white are tossup states, but let me walk you through what is also on our radar screen. Nevada leans towards the former Vice President , as does arizona. You can see, if those trends hold in nevada and arizona, former Vice President biden reaches the crucial 270 electoral votes to become the next president of the United States. Norah. Odonnell and what is the path for trump . Is there still a path for the president . Reporter there is a path for the president. And i will walk you through it. But i want you to understand, pennsylvania looms so very large in that. Lets take care of the easiest things first. We havent called alaska but the president is going to win that. Lets go back to what he won in 2016 in the south. Lets give the president georgia. Lets give him north carolina. That leaves 248, not there yet. Lets say he claws back where things exist in nevada, puts that in the trump category. Arizona puts that in the trump category. He is still five electoral votes short, and thats why pennsylvania for the president and thats wh of this going his way still looms very, very large. Odonnell so interesting to see it on the map. Major, thank you so much. Today, the former Vice President sure sounded like a candidate who likes his chances. In a brief statement at his Campaign Headquarters he made an appeal to put aside the nastiness of the campaign and called on americans to try to heal the countrys deep divide. Cbs ed okeefe joins us with more. Good evening, ed. Reporter good evening, norah. Tonight the president tweeted that he declared he was claiming he was claiming victories in pennsylvania, georgia, north carolina, and michigan, this despite evidence to the contrary in michigan and no official races called yet in the other states. Joe biden said today the wave of ballots trickling in over last 24 hours is enough to put him over the top. After a long night of counting, its clear that were winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Im not here to declare that weve won. But i am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. Reporter the Biden Campaign feels they have a clear path to 270 electoral votes, with both arizona and nevada leaning blue, plus a presumptive win in wisconsin and a victory in michigan, giving him two key battleground states he needs. In michigan, we lead by over 35,000 votes, and its growing. A substantially bigger margin than President Trump won michigan in 2016. Reporter but as angry Trump Supporters demanded entry to a Ballot Processing Center in detroit today, the Trump Campaign sued to stop the michigan count, arguing they need to review the ballots already opened and counted. This is fraud. This is absolute fraud. Reporter the Trump Campaign is also trying to stop the count in pennsylvania, where the president currently has an edge, but there are more than a million ballots uncounted, many from democraticleaning cities and counties. Were going to win pennsylvania but theyre trying to cheat us out of it because they know its their only path to victory. Reporter the president s legal team is hoping the Supreme Court will strike down a Lower Court Decision to count pennsylvanias mailin ballots received by friday but were postmarked on election day. The Court Previously refused to do so. We want the law to be used in a proper manner, so well be going to the u. S. Supreme court. We want all voting to stop. Reporter despite bidens victory in wisconsin, with almost every vote counted, the president s campaign demanded a recount, though its unlikely to substantially change the outcome. President trump took his anger out on twitter today, falsely claiming his leads in democrat run states started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. Twitter flagged them as misleading, as those votes were legally cast and returned by the deadline. Bidens fortunes turned in the last 24 hours because he was able to win back michigan and wisconsin, two states that went for mr. Trump in 2016, by flipping independents and building on thennominee Hillary Clintons lead among women. He also performed better among Union Households than clinton did in michigan. In arizona, he won among white women with College Degrees and seniors, two groups that went for the president four years ago. The Bidenharris Campaign said it wants all votes to be counted, but its already thinking ahead, having launched their president ial transition web site, but its not expected that well hear from the former Vice President again tonight. Norah. Odonnell all right, ed okeefe, thank you. All right, as the path narrows to a second term for President Trump, the race has entered a legal phase. Cbs paula reid covers the white house for us, and also happens to be a lawyer, so shes the perfect person to speak with. So paula, tell us about some of these legal challenges. Reporter good evening, norah. Tonight, lawyers for the Trump Campaign are throwing everything at the wall to try to prevent joe biden from getting 270 electoral votes. Now, when it comes to those lawsuits ed mentioned, where theyre trying to stop the vote count in pennsylvania and michigan, the campaign is demanding access to the demanding access to the vote counting sites. They want to be able to count each ballot. But there are already poll watchers representing both parties in place doing just that. So its really unlikely that a judge is going to be sympathetic to that argument. In fact, the Trump Campaign made a similar argument earlier this year, and even a trumpappointed judge sided with democrats. Odonnell and i have to also ask you about the president vowing to take this all the way to the Supreme Court. Can they help him . Reporter the campaign is asking to be able to join a lawsuit over votes that come into pennsylvania between today and friday. But if joe biden wins that state by more votes than the number that come in over these next three days, even Supreme Court intervention will not help President Trump win pennsylvania. Norah. Odonnell all right, paula reid, thank you so much. Today, the governments top Cyber Security expert said the election passed without any evidence of a major cyber attack. He said election day was just another tuesday. He also cautioned that the danger is not over, as vote counting continues. Cbs news has confirmed u. S. Cyber command conducted a preemptive attack on foreign hackers to disrupt their attempts to interfere in the election. This election has featured record turnout and an impassioned electorate, and tonight people are rallying in new york and other cities nationwide. Cbs mola lenghi joins us now. Good evening, mola. Reporter good evening, norah. There are about 1,000 people here at this Manhattan Park having taken to the streets earlier this afternoon, demanding that every vote counts. These folks marched 30 to 40 blocks through manhattan, finally arriving here at Washington Square park. Organizers are calling it a protect the vote, protect the results rally, saying they want to keep the pressure on and make sure that ballot counting in this president ial election is not stopped prematurely in some of the closely contested states that remain. We have seen projoe biden signs and tshirts. We have heard antidonald trump chants out here. This is a mostly joe biden supporting crowd. Some protesters are accusing President Trump of trying to steal this election. Now, this is just one of a dozen similar rallies happening across the country, from philadelphia to chicago to washington, d. C. , where there are about 100 protesters gathered. Now, protesters have been largely peaceful out here, but of course, there are dozens of n. Y. P. D. Police officers who are out here and who, in fact, flanked the crowds as they marched down here to the park, and they say they are ready, not just tonight, but they will be for the next few days, keeping an eye and monitoring any potential unrest in the aftermath of this election. Norah. Odonnell all right, mola lenghi, thank you so much. Lets get the latest now on the vote count in pennsylvania, where more than a million early votes were uncounted when the day began. President trump is still in the lead there tonight. Cbs Jericka Duncan is in philadelphia. And good evening, jericka, as the vote count continues. Reporter yes, it does, norah. After speaking with several voters over the last 24 hours, it is clear that the mood is shifting from excited to tense as pennsylvania awaits the results of this historic election. I want to take you inside the Pennsylvania Convention center. That is where you will find over 100 election workers who continue to count ballots around the clock. Roughly 120,000 of those mailin ballots still need to be counted, and philadelphia alone. Officials warn this years total tally would take longer than normal because for the first time more than 2. 5 Million People voted by mail throughout the state, 67 counties. One voter i spoke to today said all of this has made her anxious. Its nervewracking, stressful. You just want it, you know, i was hoping from yesterday that we would know something sooner. Reporter and the governor today said the delay shows that the system is working, urging pennsylvanians to be patient. Norah. Odonnell all right, Jericka Duncan, thank you. Now heading into the election, it seemed unthinkable to many republicans that georgia could be in play for joe biden. The president started the day in the lead. Cbs Mark Strassmann is in atlanta. So, mark, if you look at the vote tally right now, its just about 68,000 votes separating them. Does joe biden have a chance of catching President Trump in georgia . Reporter he does have a chance, norah. Thats because most of these uncounted ballots are from metro atlanta. These are from urban and suburban voters often friendly to democrats. Behind me is the state farm arena, where joe biden needs to make a very big comeback. Inside, Fulton County Election Officials right now are counting ballots. Fulton, which includes much of atlanta, has the most registered voters in all georgia. Its also dominated by democrats. Biden should win most of these uncounted ballots, a mix of absentee and early votes. At noon today, georgia had a quarter million uncounted ballots and a state election official told me mr. Biden would need to win 64 of those votes to win georgia. From its first day of early voting, georgia smashed records, nearly five million votes cast in all. The states changing demographics mean it is no longer automatically a red state. The counting of these ballots will go on tonight and into the morning. And one more thing, norah state Elections Officials are also bracing for what they think is the likelihood of a recount. Odonnell what about that . What if the final vote gets very close . Reporter if the margin is onehalf of 1 or less, the loser gets to demand a recount. In this race, thats 25,000 25,000 votes or fewer. Odonnell all right, thank you, mark. With the midwestern battlegrounds breaking late today for joe biden, all eyes tonight are on arizona and nevada. If he can hold his lead there joe biden will win the white house. Jamie yuccas is with us. When can we expect final results from there. Reporter norah, we are expecting a new tally tonight, a new tally here in arizona tonight. Between inperson and mailin ballots returned on election day, arizona is tabulating about 600,000 votes. About twothirds of those are in Maricopa County which is the states biggest voting area and includes phoenix and its suburbs. Its fastgrowing diverse area here arizona has been reliably republican, and former President Joe Biden has been ahead in the state so far. Trump did have to win a number of those ballots in order to take over the lead. The Arizona Attorney Generals Office says hundreds of voters have raised concerns that the use of sharpie markers may have caused ballots to be rejected, but many here saying that is not the case, many Elections Officials. When it comes to nevada, we probably will not have all the results back and have them counted from yesterdays election before tomorrow morning. Norah. Odonnell all right, jamie yuccas, thank you. We want to turn now to congress, and the battle for control of the United States senate. Cbs nancy cordes joins us now. And nancy, 24 hours ago, there were predictions of a blue wave and a republican wipeout. Stuff has changed. Reporter a real survival story for republicans, norah. At the start of the night, democrats thought they had about 11 places that they could go to pick off the three or four seats they needed to take control of the senate. And they were successful in a couple of them colorado beating the incumbent there, cory gardner, and it appears theyre on track to be successful in arizona, taking out the incumbent, republican martha mcsally. But then they kind of got stuck. They were not able to pick off joni earnst, the republican in iowa. They were not able to pick off susan collins, the longtime republican from maine. She just declared victory this afternoon. And they certainly were not able to pick off lindsey graham, who ended up winning his race in South Carolina handily. And so now, democrats would have to win at least two of the remaining three tossups in order to take control. And it wont be easy. Take a look. North carolina, the republican there, thom tillis, still has a small lead with about 94 of the votes counted in north carolina. In georgia, david perdue, the republican, Still Holding on with a lead as well. And then theres another senate race in georgia thats going to go to a runoff in january. So bottom line we may not know control, norah, of the senate for a couple of months. The republican leader, mitch mcconnell, said today he still doesnt know whether hes going to be the offensive coordinator or the defensive coordinator in the next political season. Odonnell i understand there were also some historymaking wins last night. Reporter thats right. Some really interesting firsts. The first two african american, openlygay legislators are going to be going to the house of representatives from new york state. New mexico sending its first allfemale house delegation to washington. They are all women of color as well. And then delaware voters elected their first transgender woman to the state senate. So she now becomes the highest ranking transgender woman in america. Odonnell in what was the most diverse voting electorate in american history. Nancy cordes, thank you. Well, theres still much more news ahead right here on the cbs evening news. Covid strikes another n. F. L. Team ahead of thursday night football. And theres new information tonight about a potentially dangerous storm threatening south florida. Eart risk . Jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. So, it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. And it lowers a1c. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. A rare but lifethreatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. 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With nutrients to support immune health. Odonnell tonight, joe biden is within striking distance of winning the white house. In the race to 270 electoral votes, cbs news projects that he has 253 to President Trumps 213. Arizona and nevada could get him there. We characterize both as likely for biden. And we may get updated numbers later this evening. The Trump Campaign is fighting back, filing lawsuits that seek to stop the vote count in both michigan and pennsylvania. At the same time, its calling for a recount in wisconsin. Biden spoke briefly today in delaware, making a call for unity, saying it is time to put the Harsh Campaign Rhetoric behind us and come together as americans. And well be right back. Wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. Ithe first full prescriptionis pstrength nonsteroidal antiinflammatory gel. Available over the counter. Voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. Voltaren. 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Im Norah Odonnell at cbs news election headquarters in new york. Here in times square. A big thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to carry off this Election Night here at cbs. Well be back. Good night. I am chip reid in washington and thank you for staying with us. When the battle over the ballots is put to rest whoever wins the white house faces a daunting reality. Covid19 reached into every corner of the nation. Racial strife and an economic downturn that is the deepest since the Great Depression. Just how america rose from the challenges of that time could have lessons for today. Reporter long lines for food relief, fear and despair. Though black and white the pictures from the Great Depression echo the covid era. The virus is new but the struggle is not. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. Reporter in 1933 newly e elected Franklin Roosevelt inherited 30 unemployment. His response would reshape the way that the country thought about itself,s it president and democracy. The United States was in the fetal position. People really wondered if we would ever get out of this. Reporter author of the defining moment, fdrs 100 days and the triumph of hope. We spoke in the manhattan home where roosevelt slept the night he won the presidency. Roosevelt believed in action and action now. This nation is asking for action and action now. He used that word in his inaugural address six times and it actually got more applause than the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Reporter at a time when democracy itself was being questioned, he recast the social contract. He convinced the American Public they were all in it together. What is the new deal . It is a deal between the government and the people on what they expect of one another. And before roosevelt was president , it was basically every man for himself. Rugged individualism, you know. The only real contact that the American People had with the federal government is when they went to the post office to buy a stamp. Roosevelt changed all of that. He changed it