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Trump & Biden Hold Dueling Rallies in Florida in Final Sprint; GOP Senator Loeffler Claims She's "Not Familiar" with Trump "Access Hollywood" Tape; Trump Rushes GOP Sen. McSally at Rally as She Fights to Keep Seat; Two In MI Charged For Involvement In White Supremacist Group; Two People Who Attended Trump Rally In North Carolina Test Positive For Coronavirus; Fauci Warns "Whole Lot Of Pain" In Coming Months; 80 Plus Million Ballots Cast, More Than A Third Of Registered Voters. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 29, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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


[17:00:00]

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN POLITICS AND BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That 7 plus million difference is a big difference. That also assumes that Congress would be controlled by their own parties and they can get those policies executed. Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right, Christina Alesci, thanks so much. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room.

We're following breaking news. With just five days to go, President Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden are both campaigning in the battleground states that could make or break the election for them.

We're talking about Florida, Biden going so far as to tell a rally crowd today. And I'm quoting him now with Florida goes blue, it's over.

This hour, we'll take a closer look at how that state plays in into the path to 270 electoral votes.

Meanwhile, a record 80 million early ballots have already been cast. That's more than one third of all registered voters in the United States. That heavy early turned off due in part to the coronavirus pandemic, which as of now has claimed more than 228,000 American lives.

And the country is nearing 9 million confirmed cases. As the map shows not a single state is trending in the right direction right now.

Let's go straight to the campaign trail. Our White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins is in North Carolina for us.

Kaitlan, the President was planning to hold a major campaign rally in Fayetteville tonight, but what happened? KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, they just postponed it until Monday because the last remnants of that hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast overnight are making their way up here through North Carolina right now. But he is still going to come to Fort Bragg right here behind me in a few moments.

And of course, Wolf, that comes after the President spent the day in Florida where he and both Joe Biden were only hours apart from each other speaking both to supporters there. Of course, that is a state that is always at the center of presidential politics. But even more so now because it's also at the center of the coronavirus crisis.

And of course, we are seeing the last days of this pandemic be defined by the one thing the president didn't want it to be, the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): President Trump and Joe Biden crossing paths in Tampa, Florida today with dueling rallies.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Five days from now we are going to win Florida and we are going to win four more years in the White House.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The heart and soul this country's at stake right here in Florida. It's up to you. You hold the key. If Florida goes blue, it's over.

COLLINS: With cases rising the closing days of the 2020 race are being defined by the pandemic and two wildly different closing messages from the candidates.

TRUMP: We're making the turn.

BIDEN: Thank you for wearing your mask and thank you for social distancing.

COLLINS: Trump has been eager to point out the differences bragging about his mostly maskless crowds as he flouts coronavirus guidelines while Biden adheres to them.

TRUMP: Now they try and say it's because of COVID. They say the fact that he has nobody at all show up is because of COVID. No, it's because nobody shows up. And I think that's the ultimate poll.

COLLINS: Today, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was pressed by CBS News on why the administration isn't following its own guidelines on the pandemic, and instead talked about PRL.

MARK MEADOWS, CHIEF OF STAFF: I can tell you that that I'm following the guidelines and a number of us are following the guidelines --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A number of us?

MEADOWS: -- for all of you that are watching this morning, is if you can carry a little container PRL. Probably have used more PRL than any American here in the United States over the last seven or eight months.

COLLINS: Dr. Scott Atlas is now the President's go to advisor on coronavirus and new CNN reporting goes inside his push to mainly test only symptomatic people, even as other medical experts warned about the dangers of asymptomatic spread.

Dr. Atlas shared those views with governors like Florida's Ron DeSantis. And during a stop in the state in August said this.

DR. SCOTT ATLAS, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE ADVISOR: And so when you start introducing closure of schools because people have positive asymptomatic tests, that's sort of not the purpose of testing.

COLLINS: The rise of Atlas within the task force has coincided with what friends described as the self-exile of Dr. Deborah Birx, who instead of being by the President side now spends her days on the road advising state officials on transmission rates.

Today the President focused less on new COVID-19 cases and instead on the third quarter economic growth number he's been waiting to town for weeks.

TRUMP: And where do you see that number on GDP? I don't know what it is. The Fed said it may be a 35 percent increase in GDP.

[17:05:01]

COLLINS: The economy grew a record 7.4 percent from July to September, which means at an annualized rate, the growth was 33 percent. The sharpest improvement on record but far from where it was pre pandemic.

TRUMP: Do you see the number today, 33.1 GDP.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, the White House press secretary once again blurred the lines between government and politics today by appearing on Fox News, not as a taxpayer funded government official, but with this new title.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's bring in Kayleigh McEnany. She is a Trump 2020 campaign advisor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And, Wolf, back to that stunning rift between Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Scott Atlas, we're told that actually there was a meeting over the summer where she grew so frustrated with what she believed were these misleading claims that he was making that she vowed to not go to any more meetings with him. And instead found that her time would be more useful on the road, which is why this week you've seen her in places like North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming really taking her travel to meet with state officials because she felt it as he was getting more time with the President, she was getting less. So she figured she might as well use it somewhere else. Wolf BLITZER: Yes. Which is probably the smart thing from her perspective to do. I guess Dr. Atlas, doesn't know that young people who are asymptomatic or have very minor little symptoms, maybe he doesn't know they can still pass on COVID to their parents or their grandparents or others very, very easily. Maybe he doesn't appreciate that.

All right, Kaitlan, thank you very much.

So let's get some more of the Biden campaign right now. CNN's Jessica Dean is covering the former Vice President for us.

Jessica, so what's Biden's strategy right now unfolding in this key battleground state of Florida?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Joe Biden doesn't have to have Florida in his column on election night to get to 270. But if he does, if he wins here on election night, that would really be a show of strength to the Biden campaign and it would make President Trump's path to reelection, all but nearly impossible.

Listen to Joe Biden, what he has to think about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIDEN: This election is the most important one you've ever voted in, wasn't your first or 10.

Ladies and gentlemen, the heart and soul this country's at stake right here in Florida. It's up to you. You hold the key. If Florida goes blue, it's over. It's over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: So straight from the former vice president's mouth right there on what he sees Florida's role as on election night. And it's worth noting that the Biden campaign and Democrats are outspending President Trump and the Republicans here in the ad wars. Over two to one in terms of television advertising, radio digital, which is quite an advantage.

You also have Michael Bloomberg coming in and dumping 10s of millions of dollars on the airwaves here in Florida as well. Joe Biden doing two stops, one earlier in the day right here behind me, it was a drive-in rally here in Broward County.

A lot of Democratic voters in Broward County, a lot of black Democratic voters, which is a key part of the coalition that the Biden campaign is trying to build here in Florida, which also includes senior voters, Latino voters, among others that they're trying to bring together.

And while we've seen the Trump campaign really relying on people going to vote on Election Day, the Biden campaign is really urging people, Wolf, have to vote early. They told everyone as they left here if they hadn't already voted to please go ahead and vote as they try to get the edge on this critical state of Florida. BLITZER: Fort Lauderdale in Broward County, A lot of people there obviously are.

Jessica Dean, thank you very much. Let's get some more on all of this. Our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borgia is joining us. Our CNN Political Commentator Bakari Sellers is with us. He's the author of the new book, "My Vanishing Country."

Gloria, with five days to go, both candidates they're on the ground. They've been on the ground today in Florida vying for those 29 electoral votes.

So, tell our viewers why Florida is so critical in this election because so many people believe if Trump were to lose Florida, he carried Florida four years ago, if he were to lose Florida, it would in fact be over for him.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. That's why they believe it's so critical.

First of all, it's a pot of gold. It's 29 electoral votes.

Secondly, thing to remember is that Florida is counting ballots, and Florida may have a result on Tuesday night. And if that result is the Joe Biden wins Florida, then the road to 270 for Donald Trump becomes almost impossible. And so the Biden people will breathe a lot easier.

If they should lose Florida that night, they have a lot of other roads, but they're going to be a little bit more nervous and the Trump people are going to be really happy. It is a swing state.

Obama won it twice. Obama won it twice. Trump won at once. Nobody can predict how it's going to go.

I was talking to a vote counter for Democrats there yesterday and he said to me, look, after what happened in 2016, I have PTS, I can't even think about it.

[17:10:08]

BLITZER: And one thing also about Florida they count ballots relatively quickly.

BORGER: Yes.

BLITZER: We should know about the early numbers.

BORGER: They're counting now.

BLITZER: Yes. The early numbers as well as the day of numbers fairly quickly on that Tuesday night. So we'll watch Florida very closely.

You know, Bakari, I want to show our viewers video of the dueling rallies today in Florida. Biden socially distant, drive-in rally. The President is jam packed, largely maskless event, no social distancing. This clearly illustrates how different these campaigns are, doesn't it?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It does. And I mean you have one campaign that's taking the coronavirus seriously. And you have another one that doesn't.

I mean, Florida is very, very, very important. It's not just the 29 electoral votes. It's the fact that we all know it's going to be close.

Any poll that tells you that any candidate is going to win this by more than two points is a poll you shouldn't trust in all honesty. I mean, the fact is, look, you know, Barack Obama won this race in Florida in 2012 by less than a point, Donald Trump won by about 1.2 points are 113,000 votes.

We know it's going to be extremely close. The difference, though, is that Joe Biden is not just having these rallies where he's concerned about coronavirus, where he's showing you leadership, but he's also engaging people on the ground.

I mean, he's engaging people like the rapper applies, right? He's engaging people like the rapper Uncle Luke, names you might not hear on CNN that often. However, these are people who know where voters are, who can pull those voters out of their respective corners and get them to the ballot boxes.

You know, Barack Obama going to Florida these things matter.

I remember on election night, this is a true anecdote, on election night in 2016, myself and Gloria Borgia, we were sitting there talking to one of our good friends on the phone, trying to figure out what was happening in Florida. And he said, look, white voters are falling out of the sky. This is what's happening. Donald Trump is going to win this race, because Democrats simply have no more voters left.

And what we're seeing is people are really anxious about what's going to happen. But I do think that Joe Biden is doing those things that are necessary to actually increase his voter base contrary to what happened in 2016.

BLITZER: Yes. You got to get that turnout. You got to get people to show up either early or day of.

You know, Gloria, I want to turn to the very tight Senate race in Georgia right now. Let's listen to Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler response when asked about President Trump's widely reported history of bragging about sexually assaulting women.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you're still not disagreeing with that particular thing that President Trump said. You're still not disagreeing with that?

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER, (R) GEORGIA: Sorry, what are you referring?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're still not disagreeing with President Trump's statements about personally sexual assault?

LOEFFLER: I'm not familiar with that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The "Access Hollywood" tape. He's referring to the access --

LOEFFLER: Yes, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So what does that tell you about the fine line these Republican candidates have to walk in, in order to keep President Trump's support?

BORGER: First of all, what kind of a rock has Kelly Loeffler been living under? I have no idea. That was the definition of awkward.

I have a hard time believing that she didn't know what the "Access Hollywood" tape was. Had never heard of the "Access Hollywood" tape, especially since she's someone in politics. But I think she knows you have to give ultimate complete 100 percent loyalty.

Look at what happened to Martha McSally on the stage in Arizona yesterday. She didn't give a pledge of ultimate loyalty to Donald Trump by not naming things she was the proudest of working with Donald Trump on during a debate. And he gave her less than a minute on stage and was incredibly rude to her.

So, you have to pay fealty to Donald Trump. And I think she knows it. And she thinks that's her ticket to victory and Georgia. We'll just have to see.

BLITZER: All right, Gloria, thank you. Bakari, thanks to you, as well.

Up next, the path to 270 electoral votes going right through Florida. We're taking a closer look at how that state could make or break the election for President Trump and Joe Biden.

Plus, we'll have more on the breaking pandemic news we're following. The U.S. death toll now surpassing 228,000 people as the virus sweeps across the United States in a deadly second wave. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:18:53]

BLITZER: Our breaking news with just five days left until the election, both President Trump and Joe Biden campaigned in Florida this afternoon. Our Political Director David Chalian is joining us with an update on the battlegrounds.

David all eyes clearly on Florida right now. The candidates holding dueling rallies there today. Walk us through the map. DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, let's remember the 2016 map, Wolf. And let's take a look at Florida back in 2016 and how close it was. This is just over 100,000 votes that Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 49 percent to 47.8 percent.

So we know this is going to be a close race this time of round as well. And let me show you why when we go to the road to 270 and the Electoral College outlook why Joe Biden says that if he can win Florida, he blocked Donald Trump for reelection.

Take a look. If I give Donald Trump, if I give him all these toss up states, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia just for this exercise, given this congressional district up here in Maine. I'm going to leave Florida blank right now, OK, or I'm actually even going to give it to Joe Biden. How do you like that? He says if he gets it.

[17:20:01]

So right now, 319 to 219. How does Donald Trump make up that gap? Well, he definitely would have to not let Arizona fall to Joe Biden. Where else could he go now that he's at 230?

Look here, Wolf, he would need Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He would need all three of those Great Lakes states to actually get over 270 if he loses Florida.

If Joe Biden is winning Florida, just politically and the way things stand right now, this is almost impossible to believe that Donald Trump could sweep Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin if Joe Biden's actually winning Florida, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. Florida, the man with poll today had Biden ahead of Trump in Florida, 50-45.

CHALIAN: Let me show you our poll of polls, just you can see.

This is the most recent state of play in Florida and our average of the Florida poll of polls, 49 percent Biden, 46 percent Trump. It is a toss-up state.

BLITZER: It certainly is.

All right, let's turn out to the battle for the U.S. Senate. I want to show you in our viewers a moment from President Trump's rally in Arizona last night when he invited Republican Senator Martha McSally on stage. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Martha, come up just fast. Faster. Fast. Fast. Come on quick.

You got one minute, one minute, Martha, say. They don't want to hear this Martha. Come on, let's go. Quick, quick, quick, quick. Come on, let's go.

SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY, (R) ARIZONA: All right. I'm coming. Thank you President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Not exactly a huge warm embrace from the President of the United States. She's in an extremely tough race right now.

CHALIAN: She is indeed. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that where the President says for the candidate in his own party, they don't want to hear this, be quick about it.

But let me show you how critical this race is in Arizona, right? She's running against Mark Kelly. If he were to win that, Wolf, then you could see the Dems would be at 48. They're trying to get to 51.

Where else could they possibly look for that? Well, I would pay attention to Iowa and North Carolina, and Maine. If they can win those four, including that Arizona Senate race, the Republicans can hold everything else that's yellow in this map. And the democrats would still be in the majority, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. And if they're in the majority in the Senate, the House as well as the White House, that's a huge, huge difference that's going to take place over the next few years.

All right, David Chalian, thank you very much for that.

Coming up, I'll speak with the former National Security Adviser, Susan Rice about the challenges and the threat to the upcoming election. Everything from getting all the votes counted quickly to worries about cybercrime. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:27:29]

BLITZER: We're following multiple breaking stories, including President Trump and Joe Biden holding simultaneous rallies in the all- important state of Florida.

Let's discuss this and more with Susan Rice, who served as President Obama's National Security Adviser. Also was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. She's the author of the bestselling book "Tough Love, My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For." There's the cover.

Ambassador, thanks so much for joining us.

As you know, the President and Biden they focused on Florida voters today, your former boss, President Obama, he's going to join Biden once again on the campaign trail this weekend. What do they need to do in these final days of the race in order to make sure that Biden wins?

SUSAN RICE, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think the most important thing is for everybody to get out and vote. And vote in person if you can, with your mask and social distancing. If you already have your ballot, but haven't returned it, make sure you put it in a Dropbox or take it to the county clerk or the election office in your area because the mails are too -- it's too late to rely on the mail.

I think their message is that this is the most consequential election of our lifetime. And people have to participate. If people turn out in massive numbers, I'm confident that Joe Biden will be elected and elected by a substantial margin.

BLITZER: Turnout is going to be so important.

The U.S. Supreme Court, as you know, Ambassador has ruled that both Pennsylvania and North Carolina can count mailed in ballots received in a certain window even after Election Day. This race is close. How worried are you about the legal challenges attempting to discount, for example, those ballots?

RICE: Well, you know, there will be legal challenges that Trump has made clear that, you know, he's going to contest everything in court to the extent he can. But look, this is fundamental, if Americans cast their ballot, and their ballot is received by the deadline on Election Day, it needs to be counted, it deserves to be counted.

That's -- there's no two ways about that. So, I am hopeful that Americans are heeding this message to get their ballot in early whether in person or dropping it off in a Dropbox or an election office. We don't want any opportunity for games to be played. But the fact is, Americans, each of us have the right to vote and our -- the right for our vote to be counted.

And we need to insist on its basic fairness, there's no deadline that is manufactured that allows people, you know, to have their vote denied if it's postmarked by the deadline.

BLITZER: There was another very disturbing development in Michigan earlier today, Michigan authorities actually charged two men for their involvement in what was described as a white supremacist group. One of the men, the alleged leader even organized a tactical and firearms training. How big of a red flag is this as law enforcement clearly is bracing, and we hope it does happen, but they're bracing for possible unrest in the aftermath of the election.

RICE: Well, that's obviously something that we all as Americans want to avoid at all costs. You know, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have each, in recent weeks, put out reports that make clear that the greatest domestic terrorism threat we face is now coming from white supremacist by a large margin in terms of number of attacks and lethality of the attacks. You know, that the plot against the Governor of Michigan, Governor Whitmer, it was quite alarming. And we see indications that, that these elements are out there.

And what's particularly worrying, Wolf, is that the President of the United States has encouraged them, you know, stand by and you know, and stand back. That is absolutely unconscionable. We need leadership that recognizes that we're all Americans, that we're in this together, that we have this great thing called a democracy, if only we all can participate in it, and participate peacefully, and transfer power peacefully. That's the essence of what makes us the United States of America. And I'm hopeful that the vast majority of Americans are committed to that ideal, and will have no tolerance for extremists intervening in any way at all.

BLITZER: I'm just curious, Ambassador, when you were President Obama's National Security Adviser in the White House, were white supremacist groups also at that time seen as the number one potential source of domestic terrorism in this country?

RICE: No. Wolf, they -- that wasn't the case at the time, this is evolved. And, you know, we had to focus on homegrown terrorism. But it was usually of a different variety, often foreign inspired. And, you know, that's a serious threat. And we can't take our eye off that ball either in the current context, and of course, overseas terrorism. But the rise of white supremacist terrorism, as a more substantial phenomenon is a more recent thing, and it's one that we need to be very mindful of and guard against.

BLITZER: Last night in a debate, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she doesn't believe systemic racism is a problem in her state. Your grandparents immigrated to Maine from Jamaica. There was even some talk, as you will remember, of potentially you challenging Senator Collins. So, what's your reaction to what the Senator said?

RICE: I was shocked to hear her say that, quite honestly, Wolf. There's systemic racism everywhere in this country. The state of Maine is no exception. It was a bare few years ago when my mother who lived in Maine, in drove out and came out of a store to find a Ku Klux Klan flyer for a rally on her vehicle. And, you know, obviously, that's an extreme version, but that was in, you know, Mid-Coast, Maine. And, you know, so these things exist everywhere.

There are all kinds of challenges that we all face. And the first step to addressing them effectively, is acknowledging that they exist. And so, for Senator Collins to say that there was no concern with systemic racism in Maine was not just out of touch, it was extraordinarily insensitive. And it shows that she really is not got her fingers on the pulse of what's happening in our home state and in the nation more broadly.

BLITZER: Yes, she said a tough race right now, as we all know, as well. We'll see what happens on Tuesday.

Ambassador Rice, thanks as usual for joining us. I want our viewers to once again, take a look at your book cover, "Tough Love: My Story of the Things worth Fighting For". Thanks so much for joining us.

RICE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Coming up, all of today's breaking news in the coronavirus pandemic, including new and very ominous warnings from the experts. Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta is standing by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:38:53] BLITZER: We're following breaking pandemic news, just five days before the election, the U.S. coronavirus death toll has now topped 228,000 people and the country is nearing 9 million confirmed cases. CNN's Brian Todd is working the story for us. Brian, the coronavirus is simply sweeping across so much of the United States right now.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Wolf, and we have this just in some news from the Gaston Count, North Carolina Health Department. They say that two individuals who attended President Trump's campaign rally a week ago, we could go yesterday at the Gaston Municipal Airport, have tested positive for coronavirus. Now, officials there are quick to say that they do not believe that this is any indication of any kind of spread from the rally at this time, but rather cases, just two individual cases of people who tested positive.

Now, this comes as the virus climbs to some terrible milestones in the country. And as top health officials are especially concerned tonight about the number of hospitals across the U.S. that are getting overwhelmed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Tonight, top health officials are issuing ominous warnings to Americans. The country is getting sicker. And a month from now, the top voice on the pandemic told CNBC, America will be in an even darker place.

[17:40:04]

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If they continue on the course we're on, there's going to be a whole lot of pain in this country with regard to additional cases and hospitalizations and deaths. We are on a very difficult trajectory.

TODD (voice-over): Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says America is in the hardest part of the pandemic right now, that the U.S. will probably climb past 100,000 infections per day within the next couple of weeks. And he's warning Americans to avoid potentially dangerous family gatherings at Thanksgiving.

DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: I would tell people to be very prudent around Thanksgiving. If you want to come together, take precautions, you know, be mindful of bringing older people in contact with younger people who might be asymptomatic spreaders. You know, you just need to be careful if you're going to come together. We're not going to be this year,

TODD (voice-over): Wisconsin now reporting a seven-day average positivity rate that's astronomical. Out of all the people tested for coronavirus on a given day in Wisconsin, nearly 30 percent were positive. 86 percent of hospital beds in Wisconsin are taken.

MAYOR TOM BARRETT (D), MILWAUKEE: ICU capacities are getting near capacity in the state of Wisconsin if the situation is dire. So it's a very serious situation in Wisconsin right now. TODD (voice-over): Wisconsin is one of 13 states reporting record high hospitalizations, and it's in one of the regions Dr. Anthony Fauci is most worried about when he talks about the hospital crisis in America brought on by this virus.

FAUCI: There are some places in the heartland and in the northwest that never had the kind of hospital and intensive care facility and flexibility that some of the larger hospitals in largest cities like New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia and others.

TODD (voice-over): And one expert says, with hospitals overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, there will be a deadly cascading effect.

PROF. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIR. CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY, UNIV. OF MINNESOTA: If it's overwhelmed because of a single disease, that means that there are also many other diseases for which we do need immediate care like heart attacks, strokes, and so forth that are going to get short shrift. And so, we're going to have an increase in deaths in this country due to other causes.

TODD (voice-over): And this disease just keeps getting more devastating. New cases are averaging 74,000 per day, with Wednesday being the third worst day ever. 41 states are trending worse coast to coast and none are trending better. Ohio just recorded its highest daily case count with more than 3,500 positives in one day.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R), OHIO: Virus is raging throughout the state of Ohio. There's no place to hide.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: And Dr. Anthony Fauci has just said, again, that he thinks it's time for a national mandate for all Americans to have to wear masks in public. Dr. Fauci had previously been reluctant to call for that. And he said even last night that he didn't think a national mandate for wearing masks would ever happen, but he now says this is, quote, an untenable situation. Wolf?

BLITZER: He knows what he's talking about, Dr. Fauci. All right, thanks very much, Brian Tod.

Let's get some more in all of this. Our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us. Sanjay, as you know, the former FDA Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb is warning that the U.S. might actually see more than 100,000 new coronavirus infections every day, within a week or two. He thinks that could happen nearly what, 79,000 cases just yesterday. Even states in the northeast are now reporting a spike. Is every region of the country potentially, Sanjay, at risk for a resurgence?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, unfortunately, Wolf, I do think that that's the case. I mean, we can show the graph of what's happening in these different regions of the country. And we know that the Northeast, you know, had been largely spared over the summer because of -- they had this terrible sort of bout in April. But look at those lines there, they're all going in that direction. We anticipated that, we knew that the numbers were going to increase as we go into the winter season.

The question has always been twofold. One is how much were the numbers increase? And could you get a hold of it? Could you identify people quickly, who are newly infected, isolate them, trace their contacts, all the stuff that we've been talking about? It's hard, you got 70,000 people being infected every day. That makes it a real challenge.

I do think as well, you know, Scott Gottlieb, said 100,000 people, you know, Anthony Fauci said that some time ago as well. At the time that Dr. Fauci said it, there were only parts of the country that were having these significant surges. If you look at the map, now, Wolf, you know, as you've been showing, these waves that were going around the country have now sort of consolidated into one larger wave. So, the numbers are going to continue to increase. It's just a question of how quickly and can we at least try to control it in some of these areas.

BLITZER: Yes, getting worse in so many states right now. At least two people as you know, you heard Brian Todd report this who attended President Trump's rally in North Carolina recently tested positive now. You've been looking into the effect these campaign rallies are having on communities where the President is visiting. What can you tell us about what you discovered?

GUPTA: This was pretty remarkable, Wolf. We did a pretty deep investigation to really looking at these numbers, looked at 17 rallies and found that 82 percent of them were associated with significant increases in the county where the rally was held.

[17:45:13]

And those increases in that county were out of proportion to surrounding counties. So the thing is, was it just going to go up anyways, or was it somehow related to these large events? That's the question we were trying to answer. That's why we compare the specific county to the surrounding counties. And certainly, eight times out of 10, that there was a significant increase in that particular county. So, that's concerning.

Again, Wolf, it's hard to contact trace to definitively say that new infection is related to this, because 70,000 people becoming infected every day, would take an entire sector of our society with those numbers to simply contact trace. But what we can say right now is that when you have any kind of gathering, especially one that's of a few hundred people, there is probably a 95 percent to 99 percent chance that the virus is attending that rally with you. And if people aren't wearing masks, if they're closely clustered, they're likely to get exposed, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, that's why Dr. Fauci is now recommending maybe a national mandate to tell people we're going to save thousands of lives by doing something that is so, so simple, simply putting on a mask.

GUPTA: Yes.

BLITZER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much, Sanjay, for joining us. GUPTA: Thank you (ph).

BLITZER: There's more breaking news we're following here in "The Situation Room". A record 80 million plus early ballots have now been cast, with only five days left until Election Day. We're going to have details of important Supreme Court decisions that could impact whose ballots are counted. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:02]

BLITZER: We were following breaking news, more than 80 million early ballots have been cast as of tonight just days before Election Day. CNN's Pamela Brown is working the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With five days ago until Election Day, more than a third of America's registered voters have already cast their ballots.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's more sense of security when we vote in person.

BROWN (voice-over): 28 states have received more than 50 percent of total ballots cast in 2016 and Florida where more than 7 million people have voted. The Democrats big early turnout lead has narrowed to just over 200,000. The Texas turnout is already massive, with more than 8 million votes cast so far. Early voting there is on track to eclipse its entire 2016 vote total.

REP. SYLVIA GARCIA (D), TEXAS: We want to make it as easy as it can be to make it accessible. So this location is open 24 hours.

BROWN (voice-over): There are also new legal battles over whether a late arriving mail-in votes will be counted. And two key states the U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in. North Carolina can count ballots up to nine days after the election if they are clearly postmarked by November 3rd. And Pennsylvania, the decision is trickier, allowing ballots received by November 6 to be counted for now. But the court made clear, they could be disputed later.

Pennsylvania officials announcing they will securely segregate votes by setting aside ballots that arrive after Election Day, setting up a potential nightmare legal battle if later rival ballots end up being enough to swing the election.

KATHY BOOCKVAR, PENNSYLVANIA SECRETARY OF STATE: I know there's confusion about flying court decisions. Make a plan today to vote. Right now, do not wait.

BROWN (voice-over): And each county has a different counting plan. Cumberland County won't begin county mail-in ballots until Wednesday. Prioritizing in-person voting. Dauphin County wants to have it all done by Tuesday night, but mail-in ballots could lag. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We now believe that election night, we'll have all the in-person voting done and approximately, if everything goes well, 50,000 mail-in ballots completed.

BROWN (voice-over): New Hampshire is already getting started. As election officials there begin partially processing absentee ballots today. And in Minnesota, a bipartisan message from former governors urging patience, warning the count may not be complete on election night.

JESSE VENTURA (I), FORMER MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: A delay just means our system is working and that we're counting every single ballot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But no matter who wins, let's demonstrate the civility and decency that Minnesotans are known for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And, Wolf, the Secretary of State in Pennsylvania says she's aware of at least five counties there. They're going to wait until after the election, the day after the election to start counting those absentee ballot. She says she's reaching out to those counties trying to urge them to start on Election Day because, of course, that could delay the whole process that they start after and it could be a while until we find out the results and the all-important state of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Wolf?

[17:55:11]

BLITZER: Yes, such an important state indeed on Commonwealth, as they like to call it. Thanks so much, Pamela, for that report.

Now, there's more breaking news we're following. Joe Biden makes an impassioned pitch in a critical state, saying quote, if Florida goes blue, it's over. We'll take a much closer look at the all-important race for the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the contest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room". Right now, we're five days out from the election of a lifetime and one make or break state is in the spotlight. We're talking about Florida.

Both President Trump and former Vice President Biden zeroing in on that battleground state with dueling rallies today. Joe Biden has another event in Florida this hour.