‘Frankly incriminating’: George Conway on Trump’s 2020 election claim

Joining us now is conservative lawyer George Conway also launched a new anti-Trump PAC this summer. It's good to see you, George. Thanks for jumping in with this new version of the indictment that Trump now faces. I like the way some of the CNN reporting put it. It's kind of the special counsel makes some nips and tucks throughout, trying to preserve the case against Trump while falling into line with what Supreme Court, has ruled in July. What do you see in this new version? Do you think it's a stronger or weaker case now? I think it's every bit as strong as it was before, because it took out portions of the indictment that really weren't necessary to prove the crimes that were alleged. And what was taken out were the allegations that Trump had had conversations pressuring the Justice Department to bring an illegitimate investigation into the supposedly fraudulent election. that that clearly is out of bounds under the Supreme Court's decision. And Jack Smith was absolutely right not to waste any time on it. But the fact remains that all of the other charges suffice. All the other factual allegations in the in the complaint, in the indictment, suffice to allege three separate crimes that Trump that the Trump has has been alleged to have committed. And I think actually the case gets stronger because it becomes more focused. And I think, you know, the more you focus it in on, in particular, the false electoral certificates and the attempts to pressure state officials, I think the stronger the case becomes. Interesting. I want to play something that Donald Trump said himself, this weekend in a new Fox interview, kind of about the case against him. It's so crazy that my poll numbers go up. Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it, you get indicted and you poll numbers go up where he's putting his every right to interfere in the election. I mean, what do you do with that? Well, you know, I mean, if I were a lawyer, I tell him he has the Fifth Amendment right to stuff a sock in his mouth, but he's not capable of doing that. And he continually makes remarks that are frankly, incriminating. his statement there in that interview with Mark Levin, that to the effect that he had the perfect right to interfere with the election is an admission that he tried to interfere with the election and that he wasn't trying to, enforce federal law and act in his capacity as president of the United States. He was trying to win an election that he clearly lost. So there's the legal realm and then the the political impact of the legal realm. I mean, because I want to ask you because one thing we have definitely seen is, it appears a concerted effort by the Harris campaign and Kamala Harris herself to not make this case a central focus of their campaign message, whereas we did see Joe Biden's campaign before hers did make it more of a focus. I want to play a moment that happened from her rally yesterday. Listen to this. But as we fight to move forward, Donald Trump is trying to pull us backward, including back to a time before workers had the freedom to organize. He's going to do well. The courts will handle that, and we will handle November. How about that? We'll have a November. Let the courts out there and everything. We've heard this from Kamala Harris before, when a crowd in gone on to say, lock him up, this time saying Trump's going to jail. What do you think of late making less not more of the criminal charges he faces? Well, I think what, Vice President Harris did there was pitch perfect for a prosecutor and a future president who intends to enforce the rule of law. This should not be political. I mean, yes, we should be making political hay out of the fact that he is a convicted criminal. And and he has done all sorts of things. And so it corrupt to to violate the law. And he shows no respect for the rule of law. But the legal process has to be the legal process. And and Kamala Harris, as a former prosecutor, respects that legal process. And she will not tolerate people saying, lock him up, lock him up in the context of a political rally. I can say, lock them up, lock them up, because I'm not running for public office. I can simply be a legal commentator and say he should be locked up, but that's my job and not hers. Her job is to be someday, and I hope that very soon, the chief law enforcement officer in the United States of America, charged with impartially administering long. George. So it's good to see you. Thank you for coming in, Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are entering the final stretch of the race for the white House. Hard to believe we're just two months from Election Day. It's kind of coming up fast. But the first ballots will go out in North Carolina. Get this on Friday. Early voting in-person begins two weeks later in Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia. The Harris campaign, meanwhile, released a new ad this morning focused on inflation and the economy. Two issues that have been weighing down her bid for president. New ABC Ipsos poll shows her eight points behind the former president when it comes to trusting her on the economy. Let's bring in CNN political commentator. Former senior adviser for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, Karen Finney, and Republican strategist and former Trump White House official Matt Mowers. let me talk to you about this first. Karen, Kamala Harris is set to unveil more details of her economic plan tomorrow. a day after releasing this new, ad that she says will cut costs, for everyday Americans. play a little bit of this. We all know costs are too high. But while corporations are gouging families, Trump is focused on giving them tax cuts. But Kamala Harris is focused on you. Yeah, Karen, she's really focusing on the economy. Yeah, she is really critical. We've seen other polls recently where she's up by one on the economy. Even on the economy, it's a critical issue obviously, in this campaign. And she's really trying to make the case that they have two very different philosophies. Donald Trump is for, you know, big tax breaks for billionaires and triple down. Kamala Harris is for investing in the middle class middle class tax cuts. and building out the middle class. And this price gouging issue is really critical. You know, 37 states actually have laws on the books around price gouging. We've seen both Republican and Democratic aides use these laws from time to time. But as a former A.G. herself, she understands that there's more the federal government can do to enforce the laws on the books, and to look for other ways to make sure that people aren't being gouged in the pocketbook, as we, you know, with the hope that prices come down, as we're also seeing paychecks starting to outpace, inflation, which is a great sign. Yeah. I mean, Matt, this is this is the issue Republicans would like this election to be about. right now, it is an issue where, Trump has the advantage, according to the polling. if only Trump does not get in the way of that message. Well, and here's the thing. And character knows this in campaigns, often you test not just what issues voters care about, but whether they believe whether you're going to talk about these issues. There's a believability question whether, if you tell people, hey, I'm going to go cure cancer. That sounds great, but your voters actually believe you're truly going to go cure cancer. you know, it's it's kind of similar here. I mean, Kamala Harris is obviously leading the polls or she has a smart campaign team. They recognize the economy is one, the number one issues. And that it's a big vulnerability for the Biden-Harris administration given where, affordable, how unaffordable goods are at the store or the price of gas. But are voters going to buy it? you know, I notice in that ad there's a lot of we will get done. I will do this. Well, that's a lot of forward looking language. But voters still remember that she currently has a day job. She lives in the Naval Observatory. She's the vice president to Joe Biden, who's president right now. If she want to do a lot of those things, she could theoretically do them today. She could have done them three and a half years ago. And had she, maybe Americans would be much better off today. They were feeling the economic pain that they are. And that's why I'm not sure that an ad like this is going to move the dial much, because voters just aren't buying it. All right. I do want to shift gears a little point. Oh, go ahead, Karen, if you want to jump in and go ahead. I was going to say I love that talking point. What does she done for the last three years? And look, as we know as the vice president, the president sets the economic policy. But let's talk about it. You know, when they came in, the economy was in freefall because of Covid, and Donald Trump hadn't done much to address that. We've now got inflation under 3%, 15 million new jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobs. So there are actually even the Wall Street Journal is acknowledging that people the sentiment is turning around. And so the the number is not where we want it to be is really the message. And there's more to do. but the fundamentals of this economy are set in such a way that you can build on the progress that's been made. And I do it just real quick. You. Yeah. Go ahead. Say, I guess Karen and Kamala Harris agree that Biden Nomics is working, I guess, which most Americans disagree with. and did they agree with it then they'd probably give her higher marks in the economy than they do right now. They don't because they're still feeling the pain at the pump at the grocery store. As a result of the Biden Harris policies.