Scott Jennings vs Van Jones on Trump vs Obama

[0:00] The story is controversy in Alaska's Senate contest. [0:03] A judge says Democrats and nonpartisan groups can intervene in court to oppose a lawsuit [0:10] by the U.S. Justice Department that would block certification of the results. [0:14] That comes despite new reporting about an alleged scheme to recruit a spoiler candidate in the race. [0:21] According to The New York Times, Democrats worked to enlist a candidate [0:24] with the same name as the Republican incumbent to siphon votes away from him. [0:30] Let's bring in our political panel. [0:32] Van Jones is a CNN political commentator as well as a former Obama administration official [0:38] and Scott Jennings, conservative columnist and CNN senior political commentator. [0:43] The big dogs are here tonight. [0:45] The main panel of the entire company is here after midnight Eastern on the West Coast. [0:51] Great to have you guys here. We're honored to have you here. [0:53] So let's talk about this Alaska story. [0:56] President Trump weighing in on it during his speech tonight. [0:59] Take a listen. [1:00] This is voter fraud at the highest level and the Democrat candidate who is involved in the scheme, [1:08] Mary Peltola, who said she didn't know anything about it in court. [1:15] She should be removed from the ballot and prosecuted, and so should the fake Dan Sullivan. [1:23] Your thoughts? [1:24] Well, I mean, it turns out Donald Trump was ahead of the curve on this because last week he said he encouraged the Department of Justice to go ahead and get involved in this because of the obvious blatant effort to confuse Alaska voters. [1:36] And now, lo and behold, he was right. [1:39] And, you know, there are people in Washington tonight, particularly over at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, talking about this not just as a political issue, but as a legal issue. [1:47] If you have two or more people conspiring to interfere in an election and to confuse voters, it could be like a conspiracy against rights kind of situation. [1:56] Trump was ahead of the curve on this. [1:58] He was absolutely right last week. [2:00] And now the Democrats have been, you know, the so-called Party of Democracy trying to confuse people in Alaska just so they can win an election. [2:06] It doesn't show a lot of confidence in Peltola, in my opinion. [2:09] Well, it's interesting in that New York Times story, the former chief of staff of Peltola, who was fired, coming out against her and saying that Peltola knew about all this. [2:19] Well, first of all, I've never seen Scott so excited about a New York Times story. [2:24] You know, he loves New York Times. [2:25] He believes everything New York Times says. [2:27] Actually, only tonight. [2:28] Only tonight. [2:30] That's false. [2:31] I appreciate good, solid journalism. [2:33] And that's what this is here. [2:35] Hey, listen. [2:35] Here's the deal. [2:36] This looks like a dirty trick on the part of Democrats, and we'll see what comes of it. [2:39] Isn't it? [2:40] I mean, it looks like it, but I don't know. [2:42] I haven't done my own reporting on it. [2:42] Maybe it may be a legal trick. [2:45] But here's what I'll say. [2:46] This is a moment where we have a mid-decade gerrymander foisted on the country by the president and all kinds of other shenanigans and nonsense coming from the Republicans. [3:00] I think we have a problem with people trusting the voting system on both sides. [3:04] I've been calling for a long time. [3:05] We need a grand bargain on voting where we restore the Voting Rights Act that Dr. King marched for, and we have voter ID and a bunch of other things. [3:13] But until we do, you're going to have shenanigans like this on both sides. [3:16] Well, Dan Sullivan, the one who's the incumbent in office, speaking on Fox News tonight about this. [3:25] We have a vision for Alaskans that the Alaskan people want. [3:28] And when they recognize that, they're like, shoot, I guess we got to cheat. [3:35] Do you think politically this impacts Peltola at all, that there's some stink that goes aside with this? [3:40] Just, I think we got to remember, they already cured this on the ballot. [3:45] They put incumbent, because listen, it was confusing. [3:49] People who run elections aren't idiots. [3:51] So they put incumbent pretty big there. [3:54] So if you are a voter and you want to keep who you got, it says incumbent right there. [3:58] So there's been already a practical cure. [4:00] I don't think this, I think this is a story that makes a lot of sense this week. [4:03] I think it makes no sense next week after she wins. [4:05] And every single legal analyst we've talked to said there's no case here. [4:08] Yeah, there's no law. [4:09] I mean, it's like, look, this is, this is, what is the law that was broken? [4:13] Well, I mean, the folks over at the NRSC say that if you've got multiple people working on a conspiracy [4:18] to confuse and mess up the voters, it's going to be conspiracy against rights. [4:21] But the legal issues aside, Peltola and the Democrats said for months, we had nothing to do with this. [4:28] What a coincidence that another Dan Sullivan from a little fishing town that you can't even get to other than by plane [4:34] managed to file for the U.S. Senate. [4:36] And now it's been revealed that they are abject liars. [4:40] And they did engage in a conspiracy. [4:41] So legal issues aside, what does that tell a voter? [4:44] We're willing to lie to your face for months and months and months. [4:47] And here at the very end, when people are making their decisions, legal issues aside, [4:52] the politics of this are terrible for Democrats. [4:54] Scott can't stand politicians who lie, who say things that aren't true, who conspire against elections. [5:01] Scott Jennings from the Republican Party. [5:03] If you want to defend it, go ahead. [5:04] I'm not defending it. [5:06] If you want to defend it, go ahead. [5:07] The good thing about me is this looks like a dirty trick. [5:11] And I thought it was a dirty trick before. [5:12] I'm glad it was cured from a paperwork point of view. [5:14] But it's hard to hear Republicans with the president they have who lies all the time, [5:18] who doesn't believe in any election, who led an insurrection, [5:20] and lecture us about voter integrity. [5:22] It's interesting. [5:23] We had this split-screen moment tonight of both Obama and Trump doing dueling rallies [5:29] on the same time on different cable networks covering different ones. [5:34] And it was Barack Obama responded to President Trump's criticism of his joke the other night [5:40] that he thought that the White House looks like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory. [5:45] Here's how President Obama, former President Obama, responded. [5:49] The president wasn't even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison. [5:58] That part didn't bother him. [6:01] But he was very upset about the cheesecake factory comments. [6:07] They don't have solutions to actual problems. [6:11] So they'd rather have the media and you talking about the cheesecake factory. [6:17] He brought it up in the first place. [6:21] By the way, where was he? [6:24] What? [6:24] He was in Georgia tonight. [6:26] And who is he campaigning for? [6:27] Because you wouldn't have any idea by just listening to Barack Obama talk. [6:31] He talked about both Keisha Lancebottom and John Ossoff, [6:34] and they were sitting on stage right next to him. [6:35] He went to Michigan and whined about Trump. [6:37] He goes to Georgia and whines about Trump. [6:39] You know who doesn't have anything? [6:41] Barack Obama. [6:42] He is as out of touch right now as he has ever been. [6:45] Tonight, President Trump was in Ohio. [6:49] He spent much of the time talking about Alaska. [6:51] He wasn't, you know what I mean? [6:52] It's breaking news today. [6:54] You got one party trying to steal a Senate race. [6:56] You expect a chief law enforcement officer not to discuss it? [6:58] But his point was that the White House made a huge deal about this. [7:02] He said that they sent, you know, [7:03] the Secretary of the Treasury to go to the cheesecake factory. [7:07] And he said, I never sent Tim Geithner to Arby's when I was president. [7:10] Yeah, look, I just think, first of all, to say that Barack Obama's lost his fastball, [7:15] he is hilarious. [7:17] He's still the best communicator in the party. [7:19] He may be the best communicator in the United States. [7:21] And he is needling Trump over. [7:23] It is. [7:24] And we talked about it on air. [7:26] It's the Saddam Hussein part, Mr. President, that you should be worried about. [7:31] You're literally, you have the President of the United States saying, [7:33] and he's not wrong, that the gaudiness, the lavishness, the narcissism, [7:40] the self-obsession of this president has them more concerned about, you know, [7:44] having gold everywhere in the White House than making sure people can fill up their tank. [7:48] And that is stinging. [7:49] That is leaving a mark in the conversation. [7:52] I think Barack Obama's doing a great job. [7:54] You know, I wish these guys could run against each other for real. [7:58] Because at this point, they're basically just running against each other every night [8:01] for these other candidates. [8:01] Listen, let's change the Constitution. [8:04] You're ready? [8:05] Let him go. [8:05] Let him go. [8:05] Because I think my boy will take you. [8:06] I think my boy will take you. [8:08] I think Obama will take you. [8:09] I do appreciate one thing about Barack Obama. [8:12] And he'll always be known for just ushering in the Trump era. [8:15] The reaction to the Obama presidency was that the American people went running to Donald Trump. [8:19] And then the reaction to the Biden presidency was the American people went running to Donald Trump. [8:23] That's my main appreciation. [8:24] After the first Trump administration went running to Barack Obama's vice president. [8:28] Exactly. [8:28] Yeah, and how did that work out for us? [8:29] Went right back to Trump. [8:31] He gave us massive inflation and a huge hangover in our economy that Trump's having to dig us out of this hole. [8:36] I don't think you want to talk about inflation this week. [8:39] Not in this campaign. [8:41] Hey, listen. [8:42] Here's how good my beloved Joe Biden was. [8:45] If Trump had just come in and literally done nothing, don't start any wars, don't start any tariffs, we'd have the best economy in the world. [8:54] We do have the best economy in the world. [8:56] We are. [8:57] Who's got a better economy? [8:58] Nobody. [8:58] Hey, listen. [8:59] First of all, please, Republicans, keep saying this. [9:03] Listen, this is what the Republicans think about you. [9:04] They think you're living in the world. [9:05] What country are you wanting to move to? [9:07] These guys think you're the best economy in the history of the world, and you can't fill up your gas tank. [9:11] Please remember this on Tuesday. [9:13] All right. [9:13] Well, we could go all night, and we are going to have you guys back at the top of the next hour to talk more. [9:19] Excited for that. [9:19] If I stay. [9:20] If you stay. [9:20] Deal with this guy. [9:21] Van Jones, Scott Jennings, great to have, gentlemen. [9:25] So while President Trump is in Ohio, former President Obama is in Georgia trying to get Keisha Land's bottoms over the top as the nation's first black woman governor. [9:36] Here's what he had to say. [9:37] Enough to remember when a president wearing a tan suit was a major national controversy. [9:53] They were very upset, and I know I look good in that suit. [9:59] I know that's right. [10:00] I know. [10:05] It was tight. [10:05] Obviously having some fun there. [10:09] I also talked about the big issues of the day, but this direct appeal to black voters. [10:14] How is that going? [10:15] Yeah, look, you know, I know Keisha Land's bottoms, and I just admire her so much. [10:19] I mean, she's, you know, we talk about the fact that it would be history, but she's also would just be a great governor. [10:23] You know, back during all the Black Lives Matter controversy, she came out and told those young people in Atlanta they were not going to tear up her city, [10:30] and showed a kind of strength and resolve that, frankly, other mayors should have followed. [10:33] And I just think it's amazing that in a state with a history that Georgia has, you've got a potential. [10:39] Right now you have a black senator and a Jewish senator, young John Ossoff, and you might now have a black female governor. [10:48] Politics can be what they are, but that is real progress for this country, and everybody knows. [10:52] Although Georgia has not had a Democratic governor since 2003. [10:56] Of any color. [10:57] Yeah. [10:57] I love Obama there, by the way. [10:59] You know, he is at his best when he's talking about his favorite subject, himself. [11:03] And you can see how enthusiastic he was about that tonight. [11:06] You know, the thing about governor in Georgia is Brian Kemp is a Republican governor for the last eight years, and they love him in Georgia. [11:14] He's a Republican. [11:15] He's led the state. [11:16] They think he's done a terrific job. [11:17] And Rick Jackson, the Republican trying to replace Brian Kemp, I heard Obama kind of going after Jackson and saying he's going to be a reality TV show. [11:26] This guy has an amazing life story. [11:29] You know, he was abandoned by his parents, foster kid, built this incredible company. [11:33] I mean, this is truly the American dream, built up from the bottom to the top. [11:39] Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, whatever you want to say. [11:41] But the Rick Jackson story, the foster child story, and his commitment to the foster kids in Georgia, it's nothing like what Obama is portraying. [11:49] Which, again, just makes me wonder, why is he so out of touch? [11:52] Does no one show him the newspapers in Georgia? [11:55] I know you don't love Obama as much as I do, and I forgive you for it. [11:59] But to say Barack Obama is... [12:00] I liked it when he was pro-coal. [12:02] Hey, listen. [12:05] He was for all the... [12:07] I liked it when he was pro-Second Amendment. [12:08] He still is. [12:09] He still is. [12:10] Listen, here's the thing. [12:11] You get off my Barack Obama now so I can get on your trunk. [12:15] Look, the reality is that you have these two superstars on the campaign trail. [12:20] You have Donald Trump, who's out there talking about men's body parts, who's out there talking about Nicki Minaj's butt, [12:27] and who's just degrading and demeaning the office. [12:29] And then you have Barack Obama, one of the most dignified, most beloved people on planet Earth, [12:33] who is massively more popular than Donald Trump has ever been. [12:37] And it just shows. [12:40] And the thing is, Obama can have a good time and not traffic and hate. [12:46] The president you have right there, he's just as quickly to use foul language against somebody, [12:51] call somebody a jihadist. [12:52] There's no comparison between these two presidents. [12:55] Well, Obama was on the campaign trail in Georgia now. [12:58] Recently he was on the campaign trail in Michigan. [12:59] And it appears, at least according to certain polls, that Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate there, [13:07] has a real problem with black voters and Jewish voters that supported Haley Stevens in the primary [13:12] but do not seem ready to vote for Abdul El-Sayed. [13:17] How do you see that problem, and what do you think he should do about it? [13:21] Well, look, it is unfortunately a real problem. [13:23] You know, part of it is self-inflicted. [13:28] There are two ads now. [13:29] The difference between Georgia and Michigan. [13:31] Georgia, you have two strong candidates that are going against each other, foster care kid, black woman. [13:36] No hate. [13:37] No hate in Georgia. [13:38] In Michigan, you have two hate-filled ads that Abdul has not done enough to denounce. [13:44] One comes from his camp. [13:46] He put an ad out that has Tucker Carlson in it. [13:50] Tucker Carlson is a white nationalist. [13:53] Black voters saw that. [13:54] Why are you celebrating Tucker Carlson? [13:56] Then another group, not related to him, puts out an ad that basically suggests that Jewish people are responsible for people who can't buy their groceries, which was horrifying. [14:06] And so now you've got these self-inflicted wounds. [14:09] I think Haley Stevens came out today and said, would you please pull this ad that you have that has Tucker Carlson in it? [14:15] Why does a Democrat have a white nationalist in your ad? [14:18] And when you denounce, purely denounce this idea that Jews are responsible for the high price of groceries, and so far he hasn't done it. [14:25] So these are self-inflicted wounds on the part of Abdul. [14:28] And listen, we've got six days. [14:30] He needs to denounce these ads and get this coalition put back together. [14:34] And yet you see Republicans like Ted Cruz taking what some would call Islamophobic up to here. [14:41] Well, that's wrong. [14:42] Here's Ted Cruz. [14:43] Well, they shouldn't be doing that. [14:44] If he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result. [14:56] We have every reason to believe that Abdul al-Sayed, if he found out, okay, they're about to apprehend these terrorists, that he would let those terrorists know. [15:08] What reason do we have to believe that? [15:12] I mean, do you think that's a little too much, Scott? [15:13] Well, he got asked the other day who is a bigger threat to the United States, Iran or Israel, and he seemed to equate the two. [15:22] He has consistently described our ally there, Israel, as a threat. [15:26] He just cannot seem to tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys when it comes to terrorism and who's actually a friend of the United States. [15:33] So these criticisms of Abdul al-Sayed are self-inflicted. [15:37] When that lunatic radical rammed his truck into the synagogue, that school there in Michigan, he said, hurt people, hurt people. [15:44] As Van just pointed out, he's running ads with Tucker Carlson, whose motivating issue these days is Israel. [15:50] That's coming out of his campaign. [15:52] Abdul al-Sayed has repeatedly intimated that we can't have good schools in America because we help Israel with the Iron Dome. [15:59] That's the same argument they're making in the grocery ad. [16:01] So the reason he gets attacked like this, the reason he has to answer these questions, is because he brings it on himself with his answers to legitimate questions. [16:09] But I do see it somewhat differently than Scott in that we need to remind people, 000.1% of the federal government goes to help Israel. [16:19] That is not the reason that we don't have good groceries in America. [16:22] But the Republicans are jumping the shark, though. [16:26] You can have legitimate criticism of a policy, but to then say, well, therefore, he's a terrorist, he's a jihadist, he's going to kill Americans. [16:34] That's not true, and that's not right. [16:35] And now you're fighting hate with hate. [16:37] You're fighting traffic in one set of stereotypes by putting out another set of stereotypes. [16:42] And so my problem with happening in Michigan right now, you've got some real anti-Muslim hate going on, and you've got some real anti-Jewish hate going on, and you need leadership from both sides. [16:51] Roger should come out and say, stop all this anti-Muslim stuff, but Abdul has a coalition that's built on blacks and Jews, and right now he's got two ads out there scaring them away rather than bringing them in. [17:01] He should denounce it immediately. [17:02] And speaking of Ted Cruz, President Trump talked about him on the campaign trail tonight. [17:08] This was interesting. [17:09] Watch. [17:11] Oh, well, we don't have that. [17:12] But apparently what he said was that he thinks that if he wins, if the Republicans win the Senate, he is going to appoint Ted Cruz to the Supreme Court. [17:23] That is his pick that he wants to get in the Supreme Court. [17:26] I need some water. [17:27] I need some to drink. [17:29] I know you guys didn't see that tonight. [17:31] Your reaction to that. [17:32] I don't even drink. [17:33] I need a drink. [17:34] Well, let's see. [17:35] Donald Trump is promising to appoint one person to the Supreme Court, and the Democrats are promising to appoint like 100 people to the Supreme Court. [17:41] So at least take his point within the current confine. [17:44] That is well played to Democrats who want to expand the court. [17:47] I don't want any of these guys to retire, but if Ted Cruz goes, I know we'll have somebody standing up for the Constitution instead of what the Democrats want to do, which is pack it and turn it into a legislative vote. [17:56] I'll take 100 good people over one bad Ted Cruz any day. [17:59] Yeah, it's an interesting closing argument, Ted Cruz in the Supreme Court. [18:04] But great to have both of you guys here. [18:06] Thank you so much. [18:07] Really, really appreciate it. [18:08] And good luck on Tuesday night. [18:09] We're excited to see you guys for 85 hours. [18:12] We're going to be there. [18:13] CNN's going to have the best election coverage. [18:14] It's going to be beautiful. [18:15] Anderson, Axe, Casey, Van, Scott, the whole team. [18:19] It's going to be amazing. [18:20] And me on the streets of California talking to voters. [18:22] It'll be a lot of fun. [18:24] Scott and Van Jones, thank you so much. [18:26] All right.