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President Trump and Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden Hold Simultaneously Town Halls; Senior Adviser to Biden Campaign Symone Sanders Interviewed on Joe Biden's Statements on Packing Supreme Court During Town Hall; Chris Christie Promotes Mask Wearing While Recovering from COVID-19; U.S. Reports Nearly 64,000 New Cases, Highest Level in 2 Months. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 16, 2020 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump sparring in dueling and distant town halls last night. The contrast in tone and substance on key issues like the pandemic was clear if you could switch back and forth and toggle with your remove fast enough. President Trump again spread misleading information, though, about masks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As far as the mask is on concerned, I'm good with masks. I'm OK with masks. I tell people to wear masks. But just the other day they came out with a statement that 85 percent of the people that wear masks catch it.

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC HOST: What? They didn't say. I know that study --

TRUMP: That's what I heard and that's what I saw.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That's not accurate.

Then Joe Biden offered up what sounded like a rebuttal from 1,000 miles away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The words of a president matter. No matter whether they are good, bad, or indifferent, they matter. And when a president doesn't wear a mask or makes fun of folks like me when I was wearing a mask for a long time, then people say well, it mustn't be that important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Look, it's quite a thing when a president goes on TV and specifically spreads misinformation about masks when wearing masks could save 100,000 lives by February. It's quite a thing when the U.S. is clearly facing this new phase in the coronavirus crisis. You can argue whether it's a second wave or third wave. Either one, it is very danger we've been warning about for a long time. Nearly 64,000 new cases were reported overnight. That's the highest total in two months. At least nine states are reporting the most new cases in one day ever. Seven states are seeing record hospitalizations at this point.

CAMEROTA: OK, but let's begin with the presidential town halls last night. And joining us now is Symone Sanders. She's a senior advisor on the Biden campaign. Simone, great to see you.

SYMONE SANDERS, SENIOR ADVISER TO BIDEN CAMPAIGN: Good to see you. Thank you for having me this morning.

CAMEROTA: I literally have written down 15 questions, so forgive me if I try to move to you along, because I have a lot of question about this town hall and the future debate. How do you think your candidate did, one through 10, last night?

SANDERS: An 11. He was an 11 last night. I will tell you all, I was watching the ABC town hall because I believe Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States. But I did toggle back and forth on commercial break to President Trump's town hall. And what I saw from President Trump was him being combative, with him deflecting, more lies. You talked about in an opening package to this segment about his misleading and straight up lie about masks.

And what I saw from Joe Biden was the polar opposite. He answered every single person's question. And after every question he answered -- did I answer your question OK? And then when the town hall ended, Joe Biden stayed for another 30 minutes answering questions from folks in the audience.

CAMEROTA: I did hear that. I just want to get to that in a second --

SANDERS: This is the kind of president that the American people deserve.

CAMEROTA: OK, but in terms of answering questions in a fulsome and straightforward way, there was still the confusion around whether or not he would support adding justices to the Supreme Court. And what he said last night was different than what we have heard before. He basically said, it depends on what happens with the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett. So if she's confirmed, as it appears she will be, then is he for adding justices?

SANDERS: Well Alisyn, I actually didn't hear anything new from Joe Biden last night. Let me tell you why. From the onset of Republicans deciding they were going to rush the nomination of this justice, even though we are in the middle of people voting, Joe Biden has been very clear that the American people deserve to be heard that, that the American people, frankly, believe that we should fill that seat in the White House before we fill the seat on the Supreme Court and so --

CAMEROTA: What does that mean about adding justices. SANDERS: Well, I'll tell you. This process is under way, as he noted.

And he is a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. That is the committee of which this nominating process happens through. Senator Harris also sits on that committee. And she said on CNN last night with Don lemon that she's seen this process up close and personal. She knows that you want to talk about packing the court. It is the Republicans that have packed the court the --

CAMEROTA: Again --

SANDERS: It's very clear that it's a distraction to answer this question.

CAMEROTA: I know you all think it's a distraction, but, first of all, he said he is going to answer it before Election Day. So last night he said he will answer it before Election Day. So when? And what is his answer?

SANDERS: Well, again, I want folks to be clear at home. It's not as though Joe Biden has made up his mind and he's holding his answer for the American people. He is watching this nominating process play out like millions of people across this country. He's looking at what Republicans not just have done during these last couple of weeks, but the pattern that they have engaged in over the last couple of years. Out of the 50 lifetime appointments on the federal bench that they have appointed, not one was African-American.

[08:05:07]

And so there is -- and Senator Harris has said this so clearly, that Republicans have packed this court. That this system is broken --

CAMEROTA: I know, and I hear you, Symone. I know that you guys have been saying the same thing, but I just thought that last night he sounded like he was going to give a definitive answer at certain date. I was just wondering if just in a couple of words, if you can tell us when that would be.

SANDERS: Well, I have no new news to break for you, Alisyn. But I can tell you that from our perspective and a number of the people that I know were watching, they didn't hear anything new from Joe Biden. What they did hear is his recommitment that people of country should be heard. That people are voting right now, 20 million people have cast their ballots already in this election, and those are the folks we're focused on.

CAMEROTA: OK, I want to ask you about another moment in the debate last night where this young black man stood up to basically ask former Vice President Biden how he plans to protect young black voters. And we have condensed some of his answer for time because his answer was six minutes and 30 seconds. So here is a truncated portion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beside "you ain't black," what do you have to say to young black voters who see voting for you as further participation in a system that continually fails to protect them?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Am I worthy of you vote, can I earn your vote? And the answer is there's two things I think that I care and I've demonstrated I care about my whole career. One is in addition to dealing with the criminal justice system to make it fair and make it more decent, we have to be able to put black Americans in a position to be able to gain wealth, generate wealth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you hear what you needed to hear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so.

BIDEN: Well there is a lot more if you are going hang around afterwards, I'll tell you more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That wasn't a rousing yes, I got the answer. Were you personally satisfied with how Joe Biden answered that last night?

SANDERS: I was. And you noted that his answer was more than six minutes. And I think that that is a stark contrast from what folks saw from Donald Trump last night. Look, Joe Biden cares about the issues that are most pressing for the American people. And the answer that he gave to that young black man was, went in depth about his plans to close the racial wealth gap and to build wealth and economic equity, racial economic equity, if you will, in the African-American community.

And to be clear, Joe Biden has long since said that that if we are only talking and addressing criminal justice reform, police reform in this country, we're only addressing part of the issue, because the economic situation of black and brown people in this country, people of color in this country, is key to really getting to the root of these systemic issues in this country. And so Joe Biden understands that. He spoke at length about it last night. And maybe -- I'm pretty sure that in the 30 minutes that Joe Biden stayed extra at the town hall, he really went to that young man and tried to answer any other questions that he had.

CAMEROTA: That is thorough.

Symone, I want to ask you about concerns other Vice President Biden's health given the coronavirus outbreak. And so now, Kamala Harris is off the campaign trail this weekend because there have been people in her orbit that have tested positive, and there was somebody on Vice President Biden's plane, a staff member for the charter company, that has tested positive, but Biden says he didn't come within 50 feet of that person. So are you making adjustments in order to keep him safe?

SANDERS: Well Alisyn, I'm so glad you asked about this, because from the onset of this pandemic, we have been taking real precautions, and frankly, we've been taking this virus seriously. President Trump has mocked, his campaign how mocked Vice President Biden for not only wearing a mask, but the makeup of his events, the social distancing, the fact that we are not holding rallies. Why? Because we not just want to keep Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris safe, we want to keep the American people, the voters, the technicians who will be doing the events, safe.

And so we were very transparent very quickly yesterday about what was happening in our campaign because that means the system that we've set up is working. We have been exceedingly cautious, and because we have been exceedingly cautious, because we have taken this very seriously and have set up systems within our campaign, we can quickly come forward to the American people and let everyone know what's going on. I'm here to tell you that Joe Biden is healthy. Senator Harris is healthy. She is only off the campaign trail out of an abundance of caution. Neither of them have a positive test, and we are we releasing their tests regularly at this point.

CAMEROTA: Symone, I only have three seconds left. I just want to, what are the odds that an actual in-person debate is happening next week with the two candidates?

[08:10:00]

SANDERS: I think they are high. Look, we're going to -- Joe Biden intends to show up to the debate if there will be one. It is up to the Cleveland Clinic and the Commission on Presidential Debates to let us know what is going on. We're going to abide to the guidelines to the guidelines that they set out. And it is on the Cleveland Clinic, Alisyn, to ensure that the safety precautions are being adhered to. So we expect them to do their jobs, and Joe Biden is going to do his.

CAMEROTA: Symone Sanders, thank you. Great to see you this morning.

SANDERS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We'll talk soon. John?

BERMAN: All right, the other town hall from the president of the United States. Let's go right to the White House. CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins is there. Actually, before we get to the president exactly himself, we have a bit of new information coming in this morning. Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, who spent a week in the ICU fighting COVID-19 speaking for the first time this morning with a message that is just such a stark difference than that of the president of the United States. Chris Christie was at the super spreader event for Amy Coney Barrett. He was in the debate prep sessions where many people, we now know, have become sick. This is what Chris Christie says this morning, Kaitlan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: We need to be telling people that there is no downside to you wearing masks. Leaders all across the politics, sports, the media should be saying to people, put your masks on and be safe until we get a vaccination. I let my guard down. I made a mistake. I was wrong, and I'm fortunate to be sitting here this morning in good health. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We need to be telling people there is no downside to wearing masks. Put your masks on. Kaitlan, such a start difference, before I get to you, than what we heard from the president of the United States, who is spreading misinformation in his town hall. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As far as the mask is concerned, I'm good with masks. I'm OK with masks. I tell people wear masks. But just the other day they came out with a statement that 85 percent of the people that wear masks catch it.

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC HOST: What? They didn't say that. I know that study.

TRUMP: That's what I heard, and that's what I saw.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What the president said is not true, it is not even close to true. It is incredibly misleading and dangerous. And Kaitlan, such a stark difference than what we heard from Chris Christie as he emerged from the ICU.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Just to be clear, the CDC never said that 85 percent of people who wear a mask get coronavirus. That study was about how people who dine in restaurants actually were more likely to get coronavirus.

But putting that aside, it is so stark of a contrast to see the difference in the president's response and Chris Christie's response to getting coronavirus. And not just even the two of them, but Chris Christie, I believe, is the only person to have come out of the debate prep sessions and that Rose Garden ceremony where so many people are now linked to have gotten COVID-19 to come out and say, you know what, that was messed up, and what should have happened did not happen there.

And Chris Christie talks about being lulled into this false sense of security by believing everybody in the front three rows of that event was tested, that he was OK. And we saw in the aftermath of that even how everyone was shaking hand, hugging, speaking freely with no masks on. And now he's coming out and saying how wrong that was.

And that is not something you have heard from the president. He has not struck an apologetic tone about hosting these events, about having people around, about the president himself being part of the reason a lot of people in the West Wing were not wearing masks because people said they felt uncomfortable going into a meeting being the only person there wearing a mask. And so you just see how different their tones are coming out of this. And Chris Christie -- yes.

BERMAN: I'm just going say Kaitlan, we're in closing argument stage. We have about two weeks left to vote, and the president is choosing his closing argument to be, to throw shade on masks, which scientists say could save 100,000 lives. Again, we're in the closing argument stage. Another aspect of that is this in this town hall last night. The FBI says QAnon is a group that, quote, very likely motivates some domestic extremists to commit criminal, sometimes violent activity. That's a bad thing when the FBI says that about you. If the president of the United States went out of his way to misrepresent some kind of thing in his head which thinks that QAnon is a good thing. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What they're doing --

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC HOST: While we're denouncing, let me ask you about QAnon. It is this theory that Democrats are a satanic pedophile ring and that you are the savior of that. Now, can you just once and for all state that that is completely not true and disavow QAnon in its entirety?

TRUMP: I know nothing about QAnon.

GUTHRIE: I just told you.

TRUMP: I know very little. You told me, but what you tell me doesn't necessarily make it fact. I hate to say that. I know nothing about it. I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard. But I know nothing about it.

GUTHRIE: They believe it is a satanic cult run by the --

TRUMP: I'll tell you what I do know about. I do know about Antifa, and I know about the radical left, and I know how violent they are and how vicious they are. And I know how they're burning down cities run by Democrats, not run Republicans.

[08:15:04]

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Republican Senator Ben Sasse said, quote, QAnon is nuts, and real leaders call conspiracy theories conspiracy theories.

Why not just say it's crazy and not true?

TRUMP: He may be right. Can I be honest? He may be right. I just don't know about QAnon.

GUTHRIE: You do know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: -- White House insiders about why the president chooses to find things to like about QAnon?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president traffics in conspiracies, and he always as. It is how he got his start as the politician by pushing the false birther conspiracy about Barack Obama. He's continued to do it throughout his entire presidency. It's not a shock to anyone inside the White House.

And it's not just QAnon. It's not just these other things he's talking about. He's also pushing conspiracy theory about to be death of Osama bin Laden, and, you know, the people, marines who served this country, and there -- excuse me, Navy SEALs.

And just the president talking about this, pushing conspiracy theories, when confronted and told they are not correct and yet he tries to pretend like he doesn't know about them but he says one core tenet of it.

It is just who the president is. It's who he's been. And aides don't -- they are not surprised by this. They don't think it is going to change because this is something the president has pushed since he got his political start.

BERMAN: The FBI says very likely motivated some domestic extremist to commit criminal, sometimes violent activity.

Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thank you.

More than 63,000 new coronavirus cases reported yesterday. More patients filling the hospital. What's coming next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The United States will surpass 8 million coronavirus cases today. A staggering 63,000 new cases happened yesterday. That is the highest daily number in two months. At least nine states broke records yesterday for cases.

Joining us now is CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

And, Sanjay, I know you are also paying close attention to the positivity rate in I think 13 states that's higher than 10 percent.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, this is -- this is one of the numbers that all along, going back to February, March time frame was a number that, you know, can be the most concerning because it really reflects this is idea as you look around the country that there are many states where there is far more cases out there, far more people who are carrying the virus than we see.

I mean, these positivity rates, you know, Wisconsin over 20 percent. That's really concerning. It means we don't really have full visualization how significant the spread is there. A lot more people are becoming infected.

The problem is, as you know is the timeline then, the lagging timeline. So people are becoming newly infected now. It's -- it's a few weeks. You know, four to six weeks before we start to see the real impact in terms of hospitalizations, which is a truer, more constant measure of what's happening here.

So, this is -- this is concerning. I mean, you know, a lot of people you talk to do use these descriptions like, you know, turning the corner. You know, we've gotten through this.

It is clearly not the case. Just about every measure you can think of is going up. You know, I think I've heard you guys talk about this as a second or a third wave this morning.

What's interesting is that in the United States its been sort of this patch work of waves around the country for some time, right? A wave over here. Diminished over here. Wave over here.

Now you are starting to see I guess to your point this consolidation around the country in most states where the numbers are going up. So, the country as a whole now really for the first time has started to go through this new wave.

So, it's concerning. I mean, there is still opportunities to turn this around. But the numbers at this point are clearly still going in the wrong direction.

BERMAN: I've said it before. What concerns me is we're in mid- October. This is mid-October. This isn't when things get really cold. This isn't when people are really forced inside. In some ways, people are actually coming outdoors in parts of the country where it is cooled off enough to go outside.

Sanjay, we did learn something new-ish in the town hall last night about the president's lungs. Explain.

GUPTA: Yeah, I mean, this has been a standing question, with regard to the president's health as you know that doctors are giving these briefings, saying we're her to tell you how the president is doing. A fundamental question has been, did the president have pneumonia or not? Because the he was getting all these different medications, typically some of them given only when someone is sicker, has pneumonia, drops in oxygenation. Things like that.

He was asked about it again. Listen to how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTHRIE: Did the doctors ever tell you that they saw pneumonia on your lung scans?

TRUMP: No, but they said the lungs are, you know, a little bit different. A little bit perhaps infected and --

GUTHRIE: Infected with --

TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, I didn't do too much asking. I really felt good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: You know, look, it -- I don't know that it matters anymore. I mean, I'm glad the president is doing well.

There has been so much information that that is still hidden. I mean, you know, this hospitalization, we still don't know exactly what went on. We still don't know what happened on hospitalization back in November of last year, which I realize was almost a year ago now.

So -- but I still don't understand the sort of opaqueness in terms of answering these questions. He was getting three experimental drugs. He dropped his oxygenation.

They did not want to answer the pneumonia question. Still doesn't really want to answer it. But it sounds like he had it.

He had infections of the lungs. I think he's saying that he had pneumonia.

BERMAN: He seems like he thinks that the word pneumonia projects some kind of weakness. It's just -- it's just a condition. People get it. People get better but for some reason he refuses to say it out loud, Sanjay.

But we did learn there was something wrong with the lungs. That's for sure.

Thanks so much for being with us.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Wisconsin, excuse me, is dealing with the worst of the pandemic. Nearly one in four people testing positive. Doctors and hospitals maxing out resources and staff there. So, we'll speak with the mayor of Milwaukee, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:28:46]

BERMAN: Now, this morning, coronavirus cases skyrocketing in Wisconsin. New high of almost 4,000 new cases reported in just one day. A field hospital has opened the state's fairgrounds to accommodate the influx of patients. Hospitalizations also set a statewide record. The positivity rate in Wisconsin is 23 percent, 23 percent.

Despite all this, President Trump is going to Wisconsin to hold a rally tomorrow.

Joining me now is the mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett.

Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being with us.

Wisconsin is a big state, and different parts of the state are in different situations right now. But overall, the state situation is not good. So, specifically, in Milwaukee, how are you doing?

MAYOR TOM BARRETT (D), MILWAUKEE: In Milwaukee, we are holding our own but I don't like the trend. We have seen an increase in hospitalizations due to coronavirus by over 2 1/2 just in the last week or so. And so, we are seeing more hospitalizations here. The numbers are

trending in the wrong direction.

Our positivity rate, the testing positivity rate was about 5 percent, again, just a couple weeks ago. It's now at 10 percent. So, we're below the state average, but if you look at the math, the Northeastern part of the state, the central part of the state, it's -- it's heading this way, if we don't turn something around. So I am very, very concerned.

BERMAN: Yeah, 10 percent, that is already a very high.