'That's cool with you?' CNN corners ex-Trump lawyer defending scheme to buy votes
CNN's Sara Sidner clashed with May Mailman, the director of the Independent Women's Law Center and a former legal adviser to former President Donald Trump, over tech billionaire Elon Musk's controversial scheme to pay registered voters who sign his "constitutional petition" $1 million per day until the election.
Some election observers have argued is meant to be a ploy to buy votes for Trump ahead of the election — and smacks of illegality.
"If Trump is so sure he's going to win, why is Elon Musk offering to pay people to vote in swing states?" asked Sidner.
"Well, of course, a PAC and the candidate don't talk by law, they can't talk, but, you know, it's interesting," said Mailman. "So Kamala Harris has raised $1 billion in three months. I mean, this is record breaking and Trump's money just isn't there. And so I do think actually, there is something to super PACs using their money smarter and not just flooding the airwaves. And so—"
"So buying votes, buying votes, May? "That's cool with you?" asked Sidner.
"No, no, i think that this attention, I think that this makes people pay attention. Oh, you know, there's who isn't paying attention if there's some sort of one million dollar check that someone is receiving? And so getting people's eyeballs, getting people to pay attention to this election is, I think, not just going to be the standard advertisements that we see. I think creativity is warranted in elections."
Democratic consultant Paul Begala then weighed in, arguing that whether or not it's legal, it's a sign of weakness.
"If Trump had anything and his support, it was enthusiasm," he said. "And if your billionaire buddy's got to be thrown on million dollars, get people to register, I mean, legalities aside, just politically, that's not a good look. People leaving his rallies early. We covered it this weekend."
Begala noted that he recently had to "reconfigure the arena" to make his rally's turnout look larger, then discussed Trump's bizarre half-hour music interlude at his recent town hall, and his decision to cancel a speech to the NRA. "My god, if you're a Republican and you can't speak to the NRA, you got a problem right?" he added.