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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Biden & Trump Make Final Pitches as Coronavirus Cases Soar; Doctors Warn Vaccine Dangers May Not Be Known; Dodgers Win Series, Player Celebrates After Positive COVID Test. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 28, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:21]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Making the final pitches to voters. Joe Biden is looking to America's future, Donald Trump hanging on to his past.
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: As the world waits for a coronavirus vaccine, doctors warn the dangers may not be known until one is already being used.
ROMANS: And to Los Angeles, another major sports title but a cloud hangs over the festivities. A positive COVID test on the field.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett. It's Wednesday, October 28th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York. Six days until Election Day.
Today is the deadline to request your absentee ballot in Massachusetts, Washington, and West Virginia, and early voting ends today in Alabama, Maine and Tennessee.
ROMANS: And one week from now, the country will be waking up from Election Day. We may not know who won but we do know the pandemic is driving Americans to vote early in record numbers. About 69 million votes already cast, remarkable. That's more than half of the entire vote total from 2016.
Overnight, America's terrifying new normal was on display again. Over 73,000 new coronavirus cases reported. That is the fourth highest total. Almost 227,000 Americans have died and yet the White House astonishingly is claiming credit for ending the pandemic on the list of science and technology accomplishments.
That's right. The White House -- according to the White House, the pandemic is over.
JARRETT: On the flip side, Joe Biden campaigning in Atlanta at a socially distanced rally. He's trying to expand the map to nail down 270 electoral votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: There aren't a lot of pundits who would have guessed four years ago that the Democratic candidate for president in 2020 would be campaigning in Georgia on the final week of the election. Something's happening here in Georgia and across America!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Later today, Biden will be briefed by public health experts before he speaks about the virus and health care costs.
Arlette Saenz is on the trail with Biden in Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, Joe Biden traveled here to Georgia to deliver his closing argument saying it's time for the country to unite. And Biden's messaging was consistent with how he started the campaign, which he frames as a battle for the soul of the nation and warning that the nation's character is on the ballot. Biden's campaign really believes that resonates as the country is in a divided moment dealing with multiple crises.
Take a listen to what Biden had to say in Warm Springs, Georgia.
BIDEN: I believe this election is about who we are as a nation, what we believe, maybe most importantly, who we want to be. It's about our essence. It's about what makes us Americans. It's that fundamental, a run to unite this nation and to heal this nation. I've said that from the beginning. It's badly necessary.
SAENZ: Now here in Atlanta, Biden told supporters they're going to surprise the devil out of people this year in the election. The Biden campaign really hoping to keep every path to 270 electoral votes open as possible.
Biden will next be seen in the battleground state of Florida. A state that is always tight in presidential races. The campaign is recently sending in President Obama twice trying to close the deal for his former vice president as they view that state of Florida incredibly important to their path to the presidency -- Christine and Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Arlette Saenz for us in Georgia, thank you for that.
"The New York Times" reports Joe Biden and Barack Obama will appear together at a rally this weekend before election day. The president's latest stop in Florida took him to Orlando. They hope President Obama can rally young voters to vote Trump out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: What's his closing argument? That people are too focused on COVID. He said this at one of his rallies, COVID, COVID, COVID. He's complaining. He's jealous of COVID's media coverage.
If he had been focused on COVID from the beginning, cases wouldn't be reaching new record highs across the country this week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: While Obama was speaking in Florida, CNN learned that the cash strapped Trump campaign pulled back on its TV advertising in the state. Now, we're told the Republican National Committee is trying to plug some of the financial holes to keep those Trump ads on the air in that critical swing state.
[05:05:09]
JARRETT: Meantime, President Trump heads to Arizona today after a three state swing through the Midwest. He's turning back the clock to win over suburban women, not back to 2016, much farther back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know what else? I'm also getting your husbands, they want to get back to work, right? They want to get back to work. We're getting your husbands back to work, and everybody wants it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: If the Trump campaign is wondering why the president is struggling with women, well, there's your answer. It's 2020. Yet he seems to think the dynamics of women in the workplace hasn't changed since he was a kid in Queens, not to mention while Trump is focused on, quote, the husbands, this global pandemic is gobbling up all the jobs that women have been doing. Apparently, there's no Trump plan to help women, quote, get back to work.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny is on the ground with the Trump campaign in Omaha.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, six days now until the final vote next week on Election Day. President Trump plans to have rallies every day, multiple times a day in battleground states across this country trying to get his base supporters out. At this late rally last night here in Omaha, Nebraska, the president was chasing one single electoral vote.
Of course, Nebraska and Maine split their electoral votes by their congressional district. That's what brought the president here to Omaha. A clear sign that he is trying to turn out his base wherever he can, even here in deep red Nebraska.
But as he talks, he was diminishing the importance of coronavirus. He said the media is simply fixated on coronavirus. But the issue here is this, Nebraska for the fourth week in a row has had record high cases. It's the same in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in Pennsylvania.
So cases of coronavirus, the reality of coronavirus is following him as he campaigns. Now there is no doubt in the final six days of this race, there could be twists, there could be turns. But this president knows his path to winning election, those 270 electoral votes is very narrow.
That's why he's threading the needle in places like here in Omaha. He'll be campaigning out west today -- Laura and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: All right. Jeff, thank you so much for that.
Experts are issuing a sobering warning overnight. It may not be clear whether a coronavirus vaccine works until they're already being used. A team lead by doctors at Oxford says protection is difficult to access in phase three trials because there's not enough volunteers are involved.
The U.S. is now averaging almost 72,000 cases per day, more than doubling in the last six weeks. 80 percent of the country is now adding new COVID cases and testing and tracing isolating people is at risk of falling further behind.
ROMANS: The country is holding steady, though, with more cases, more tests are needed. Even the White House's own testing chief directly contradicts President Trump, saying the spike in cases is not just because of testing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL BRETT GIRORI, HHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH: Compared to the post-Memorial Day surge, even though testing is up, this is a real increase in cases. We know that because the case numbers are up and calculate that, but we know that hospitalizations are going up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Yeah. Admiral Giroir also says if Americans do not get more disciplined about public health measures, lawmakers could be pushed to take draconian measures.
JARRETT: Wisconsin is facing a particularly dire situation. Eighty- four percent of hospital beds there are occupied. It took the state more than seven months to pass 100,000 cases and only 36 days to double that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TONY EVERS (D), WISCONSIN: There's no way to sugarcoat it. We are facing an urgent crisis and there is an imminent risk to you, your family members, your friends, your neighbors and people you care about.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Washington, Oregon and Nevada joined California in a coalition to independently review the safety of a coronavirus vaccine. And in an effort to prevent students from bringing the virus home for the holidays, the State University of New York Systems is preparing to test each of the 140,000 students before they leave for Thanksgiving.
Students who test positive will quarantine before they leave campus.
All right. The Dodgers win their first World Series in 32 years but one of their star players tested positive for coronavirus during that game.
Andy Scholes has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report".
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, Christine.
So, you know, Major League Baseball finishing this World Series just in time. They hadn't had a player test positive for COVID-19 the entire postseason. But it happened to one of the Dodgers star players of the night. They clinched the title.
Dodgers' third baseman Dustin Turner was pulled from the game in the eighth inning after Major League Baseball learned he had tested positive in the latest round of testing.
[05:10:01]
ESPN's Jeff Passan reports that they got the results of Monday's test in the second inning. Those came back inconclusive. Samples taken from Tuesday then arrived in a run and sources told ESPN they showed up positive.
The Dodgers were leading 3-1 when Turner left the game. Jose Urias striking out Willy Adames to get the final out and clinch that elusive World Series title for L.A.
Cory Seager was named World Series MVP. The Dodgers champs for the first time since 1988. Seager says it was tough for turner not to be out there at the end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREY SEAGER, WORLD SERIES MVP: To take that away from him, you know, it's gut wrenching. You know, it hurts me. I can't imagine how he feels. If I could switch places with him right now, I would.
CLAYTON KERSHAW, LOS ANGELES DODGERS PITCHER: I'm sure it's really hard tonight. We all feel for him. But I hope he can take solace in the fact we're not here without him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Now, Turner tweeting after the game that he's asymptomatic and couldn't believe he couldn't be out there to celebrate with his guys. Turner did eventually return to the field wearing a mask. He hugged some of his teammates and sat next to his manager, Dave Roberts, for a team photo. He even lowered his mask a couple of times during that photo op.
Now, Dodgers president of baseball operations, Andrew Freedman, he said his team was going to be tested when they got back to the hotel, Laura. He's not actually sure if they're going to be able to travel back to L.A. or if they have to stay there for a while depending on the results of the test.
JARRETT: Well, it's tough for Turner but at least his team won. So, you can celebrate that.
All right. Thanks, Andy. Appreciate it.
All right. Philadelphia police are asking some residents to stay home trying to quell the violence after the deadly shooting of a black man.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:16:04]
JARRETT: Breaking overnight, more protests in Philadelphia over the deadly shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. One group marched peacefully for much of the night chanting his name. Officers shot and killed Wallace as they say he walked towards them with a knife. The protests turned violent near the police precinct. Businesses were broken into. People were seen throwing rocks, light bulbs and bricks.
Aerial pictures have showed people ransacking a foot locker and others emerging from Walmart with televisions and other items despite this plea from Wallace's father.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER WALLACE, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: I don't want it to leave a bad scar on my son and my family with this looting and chaos stuff, you know what I mean, with the violence, even with the police department. This is where we live and that's the only community resource we have. We take all the resource, burn it down, we don't have anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A family attorney said Wallace had mental health issues and was on medical attention. They were calling for an ambulance, not police. This attorney in Philadelphia says his office obtained some bodycam footage and he's looking for. He says he is personally looking into this case.
JARRETT: Just weeks after federal authorities revealed a plot to kidnap and kill a Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, President Trump is downplaying the threat again.
Remember, this was an alleged domestic terrorism scheme that included plans to overthrow several state governments because the suspects weren't happy about the pandemic lockdowns.
So, here's the president speaking to his supporters in Michigan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP: Now your governor, I don't think she likes me too much -- hey, hey, hey. I'm the one. It was our people that helped her out with her problem. And we have to see it's a problem, right? People are entitled to say maybe it was a problem, maybe it wasn't.
It was our people. My people, our people -- my people, our people that helped her out. And then she blamed me for it. She blamed me. It was our people that helped her.
I don't get -- I don't get it. How did you put her there?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, that's right, the president is taking credit for helping Whitmer while simultaneously suggesting the threat against her was overstated. He has repeatedly attacked Whitmer before and after we learned of this plot. The governor pushing back, writing in "The Atlantic": Every time the president ramps up his violent rhetoric, every time he fires up Twitter to launch another broadside against me, my family and I see a surge of vicious attacks sent our way. This is no coincidence and the president knows it.
JARRETT: Staying in Michigan, the judge striking down a state order that banned open carry firearms at or near polling places on Election Day, the decision is effectively reversing the order by Michigan's secretary of state. Pro-gun rights groups sued to challenge that ban. Open carry restrictions in place at churches and schools will not be affected.
ROMANS: All right. The 2020 election is finally here. Join CNN for special live coverage. Understand what's happening in your state and all across the country until all of these votes are counted, no matter how long that takes.
"ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA", special coverage starts Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:23:44]
ROMANS: All right. Stock futures are down sharply this morning. Investors reacting to struggles with coronavirus. Big losses in Europe as they're facing new lockdowns there to contain the rise in cases.
In the U.S., there's no stimulus in site. President Trump signaling there will be no deal before the election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, after the election, we'll get the best stimulus package you've ever seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Lawmakers in Washington right now playing chicken with the economy, unable to agree on unnecessary fiscal rescue package. No matter who wins the White House, the next president inherits the worst pandemic in a century. Women leaving the work force in droves and the gains of a decade long economic expansion wiped out.
Thursday's GDP report will likely show record growth in the third quarter. It will be a huge number but that number is stale. It's a look backwards.
Right now, cases are rising and recovery is faltering. Congress at the same time is AWOL on more money to add to the shock absorbers for families and businesses. Without federal aid, more small businesses will close. Renters face evictions. Travel businesses, hotels, airlines and the like will shed tens of thousands more jobs and that puts the fragile economic recovery at risk.
Six days to go to the election. The next president faces a very big problem.
[05:25:03]
JARRETT: Very big problem, no matter who wins.
Well, the 2020 election has reached the beginning of the end or could it also just be the end of the beginning? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Making their final pitches to voters. Joe Biden looking to America's future, Donald Trump hanging on to its past.
JARRETT: As the world waits for a coronavirus vaccine, doctors warn dangers may not be known until one is already being used.
ROMANS: And Los Angeles celebrates another.
