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2020 Election; Coronavirus Pandemic; Biden Receives Public Health Briefing. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 28, 2020 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:31:37]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: This is a wow number. More than 73 million Americans have already voted. That number, half the total vote count in all of 2016 election. That's according to survey by CNN, Edison Research and Catalyst.

In Pennsylvania those votes cannot even begin to be processed until election day. That's state law. And even then different counties have different processes and different counting place in place. This from our reporting on Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and other areas plan to work on mail-in votes at 7:00 a.m. sharp, official said.

But swing counties like Erie, red ones like Cumberland and intending to wait until after the polls close or even the next morning. To begin, CNN's Kristen Holmes joins me now. And so Kristen, this is just one of the battleground states where we might be waiting for a while unless it's a blowout. A complicated process, the president says I want it counted on election night. That's not going to happen and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Of course we continue to say this that just because we don't have results on election night doesn't mean something bad has happened, it's just the system at work.

Now, the problem with different systems of counting mail-in ballots, it might cause some confusion on election night. And here is why. I want you to see this latest number, 1.84 million early ballots cast. Now keep in mind, Pennsylvania is not a place who has a robust, in- person early voting program. So most of these are mail-in ballots. That's not something to sneeze at. They will all have to be processed.

So here's what we know, as you mentioned, Pennsylvania will start counting right at 7:00 a.m. That way at 8:00 p.m. when the polls close they will have some information to give to the public. But those swing countries like Erie, Lucerne County, they say they're not going to start counting until after the polls close or even possibly later or the next day.

So just something to keep in mind when you are watching those returns come in. The numbers could be skewed, it could be more Democratic, it could say more Republican. We have to wait until vote is counted.

And John, I do want to touch on two other headlines, one out of Minnesota. This was a really interesting decision by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch. He decided to reject an appeal from a Republican congressional candidate in the state after the death of a third-party candidate in the race. And Gorsuch actually didn't take it up to the full court meaning that that election will go on as planned in November.

And lastly, John, I want to point to something here. Look at this number, 8.14. This is the early ballots cast in Texas. This is really incredible. Despite the fact we do believe there's finally a button on the issue of dropboxes in the county, a Texas Supreme Court ruling in favor of Governor Abbott to only have one dropbox in the county there. John?

KING: Remarkable. The numbers are just mind-blowing. We'll see how it affects election day math. But wow, Kristen Holmes, grateful for help everyday as we sort through this.

Up next for us, coronavirus cases are rising. The mayor in Denver warns the city one step away from a stay-at-home order.

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[12:39:31]

KING: Denver's Mayor tell CNN today he's just one step away from issuing a stay-at-home order for his city that after a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, the city and county just increased restrictions with most businesses reduced now to 25 percent capacity.

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MAYOR MICHAEL HANCOCK (D), DENVER: We are seeing our numbers rise and we're seeing it rise across age demographics. All age demographics are vulnerable right now. And it's unfortunate because now we have to step back and address this from a more serious point of view. And again, we're one step away from it. Going through the stay at home or and that's something we want to avoid at all costs.

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[12:40:04]

KING: Denver just part of the surge of infections across Colorado. You see the numbers there. One of the 20 states today seeing its highest average yet daily new cases. The Governor warning, the rate of positive test is on the rise in Colorado. Its daily average right now, just under 7 percent.

And with us now is the Colorado governor Jared Polis. Governor, I just want to say up front, I'm sorry, I need to -- Joe Biden is speaking in Wilmington, Delaware after a briefing with his Coronavirus Task Force. Let's listen.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And I'm going over to vote with my wife and then I'll be happy to take your questions after I vote. OK. We just -- I just completed in here another public health briefing with my team of public health experts.

We looked at the latest reported data and how it indicates that we're on an upward slope of a bigger wave of confirmed infections than anything we experienced today. We talked about what actions would be needed to turn this around and how we made worse by this administration's declaration of surrender to the virus.

And we discussed again, the vital importance of wearing masks of protecting yourself, protecting your neighbor, and to save around 100,000 lives in the months ahead between now and just after the first of the year.

This is not political. It's patriotic, wearing a mask. Wear one. Period. We focused on the way this virus is hitting communities of color much harder, particularly black, Latino, and Native American communities. We're seeing race-based disparities across the aspects of this virus, higher infection rates but lower access to testing and harder time quarantining safely because of their financial circumstances, lower access to quality treatment when they are infected, and tragically, higher mortality rates.

One in 1,000 black Americans have died from this virus. This is a staggering statistic. And 57 percent of black adults, 46 percent of Latino adults know someone who has died or been hospitalized from this disease.

Folks, we've lost more than 220,000 lives with this virus already. But this administration has just given up. Over the weekend, the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows went on television and admitted that they've waved the white flag and declared surrender. He said quote, we're not going to control the pandemic, end of quote.

The American people deserve so much better than this. Just look at what happened last night in Omaha after Trump -- after the Trump rally ended, hundreds of people including old American and children were stranded in subzero freezing temperatures for hours, several folks ended up in the hospital. It's an image that captured President Trump's whole approach to this crisis. He takes a lot of big pronouncements, he makes a lot of big pronouncements, but they don't hold up. He gets his photo op and he gets out. He leaves everyone else to suffer the consequences of his failure to make a responsible plan.

It seems like he just doesn't care much about it. And the longer he's in charge, the more reckless he gets. It's enough, it's time to change.

Meanwhile, yesterday, the White House Science Office, and this stunned me, put out a statement listing ending the COVID-19 pandemic as a top accomplishment of President Trump's first turn. Top accomplishment of Trump's first term.

At the very moment when infection rates are going up almost every state in our union, refusal of the Trump administration to recognize the reality we're living through at a time when almost 1,000 Americans a day are dying, every single day is an insult to every single person suffering from COVID-19. And every family who's lost a loved one.

There's nothing more personal, there's nothing, nothing more personal to an American family, than their health care and the health care of their loved ones.

I know all too well what it feels like to have your heart ripped out losing a loved one's too soon to sit the hospital bedside and feel like there's a black hole in the middle of your chest knowing there's not much you can do.

I in many of you know what it feels like to watch a beloved person die, why they're dying of cancer or some other disease without wondering -- having to wonder about whether you're going to pay for the medical bills. Or what would happen if God forbid the insurance companies are able to come in and say, you know, we're not going to cover the treatment.

And yet today, President Trump is on a single minor crusade to strip Americans of their health care. That would only create another enormous crisis in the public health system

[12:45:02]

In two short weeks, exactly one week after the election, the Trump administration will make its case asking the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act, quote, in its entirety, in its entirety. Let me say that again. They're arguing that the entire law must fall, which was shipped 20 million Americans have their health insurance overnight. Rip away protections for preexisting conditions for more than 100 million people in the middle of an upswing in have a pandemic, the upswing.

Look, just this week on 60 Minutes, we heard with Trump told Lesley Stahl about the upcoming Supreme Court case on the Affordable Care Act, and I quote, I hope that they ended. It would be so good. If they ended, end of quote.

There is no question. There's no question. That's why President Trump nominated Justice Barrett to the court. That's why the Republicans jam her through confirmation the middle of an election. The public's tried and tried and tried. Since the Affordable Care Act was passed, overturn it in every single time they failed.

President Trump has tried everything he can on his own to sabotage the law. So now, through what I've characterized as a Craven abuse of political power, they've added to the court and justice who criticize Chief Justice Roberts, previous decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, in hopes that they can destroy the Affordable Care Act once and for all through the courts, no matter how many Americans they hurt in the process. So let's remember exactly what to stake in this election. If you have diabetes, asthma, cancer, or even complications from COVID-19, you're going to lose the protection this law provides, insurers will once more be able to jack up your premiums or deny your coverage. Women could again be charged more for their health care, just because they're women and children will no longer be able to stay in their parent's insurance policies until age 26.

On top of all that, overturning the ACA could mean the people have to pay to get COVID-19 vaccine once it's available. That's right. That's right. The law that says insurers are required to cover vaccines for free is the Affordable Care Act. And he's striking that down attempting to.

Unlike Donald Trump, I believe health care is a privilege. It's a right to everyone have access to it. This country can't afford former U.S. President thinks he's only responsible for the well being of the people who voted for him.

We can't afford former years of a president who instead of fighting the virus attacks doctors. I can't get over this guy. He attacks doctors claiming they're over reporting COVID cases because they want to make more money. Doctors are over reporting cases because they want to make money.

You know, our doctors and nurses and our frontline health care workers are putting themselves at enormous risk every day. More than 1,000 of them have already died an attempt to beat back this pandemic and save lives. They deserve to be treated respect by their precedent.

We can't afford four more years a president who would rather spend his time desperately trying to strip people of their health care, then even once bother to put forward a health care plan on his own. We can't afford four more years of Donald Trump.

The good news is we have a chance to turn this around by voting. I have six more days left in this election and American people have it in their hands, to put this country in a vastly different path. This is my commitment to you.

I'll protect and build on the Affordable Care Act so that you can keep your private insurance or choose a Medicare like option. You can make it stronger. I'm going to make it stronger with your help. The lower premiums and deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, we'll bring down drug prices are almost two-thirds by taking steps such as allowing Medicare to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies are making billions of dollars making the price lower when they negotiate Medicare says we're going to pay you X amount for the following medicines, that will lower prices drastically making it available to everyone. We're going to make sure every American has access to free COVID-19 vaccine.

[12:55:01]

This isn't beyond our capacity. Now if we come together, we can stand together. If we stand together as the United States, the United States, Democrats, Republicans, the independents, we can transcend all divisions and show what's possible. There's nothing beyond our capacity. There's no limit to America's future.

And if I'm elected president, as I said yesterday, in Warm Springs, Georgia, I'll be a president who is not in it for himself, but for others. President doesn't divide us but unites us. President appeals not to the worst illness. But the best is.

The President looks not to settle scores, but to find solutions. President guided not by wishful thinking, but by science, reason and facts. Even if I win, it's going to take a lot of hard work to end this pandemic. I'm not running into the false promise of being able to end this pandemic by flipping a switch. But what I can promise you is this. We will start on day one, doing the right things. We'll let science drive our decisions. We will deal honestly with the American people. And we will never ever, ever quit. That's how we'll shut down this virus. So we can get back to our lives a lot more quickly than the pace we're going at now.

You know, I'm going to fight to protect your health care, I promise you, just like I fight for my own family. We can do this, I promise you. And I'm going to go do what I hope all of you do. I'm going to walk out of this building, I'm going to go vote. You're going to go vote. There's a lot of people on that ballot, not just me, but the down ballot as well. That are going to change things for us make it better. May God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. Thank you.

KING: The Democratic nominee for president, the former vice president knighted states Joe Biden speaking in Wilmington, Delaware. There he's heading to vote right now. He says he will take questions from reporters after that in the remarks. You just heard if you're with us from the beginning, a damning indictment of the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus and also a sober assessment from Biden near the end of those remarks saying that if he is elected, it's not like flipping a switch that the pandemic will not end right away.

He says but he promises he would take a much more serious science- based approach from day one. He says he will not be guided by wishful thinking but by science, by reason and by facts.

At the beginning his remarks again indicting the Trump administration saying it has surrendered in the fight against the coronavirus at a time when it is spiking. Now, in 35 states across the country, Joe Biden saying it is not political, it is patriotic wear a mask.

And Kaitlan Collins, our White House correspondent joins us now. He also took time Kaitlan in that in laying out plainly what the Democrats see as a political advantage for them in the final days of this campaign. It is a fact the Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court in a case to be heard one week after election day to throw out the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare in its entirety.

Joe Biden making the case that would strip health care for millions of people, take away protections if you have a pre existing condition, take away the piece that allows you to keep your children on your health care plan until you're 26. So taking the pandemic as issue one, but then broadening out to the broader healthcare issue on which the democrats think they have a political edge.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we saw in the midterms that they do have an edge when it comes to healthcare, of course, and that's why you've seen Joe Biden tried to hammer it every single day on the campaign trail.

But what was really striking about his remarks also John was pointing out just the contradictions that we've seen from the White House when it comes to the pandemic because as the President has been on the campaign trail holding several rallies every day, it is an unavoidable topic and it is shaping the way this 2020 race is coming to a close and he was talking about the things that have happened today where you seen the testing coordinator here at the White House dispute what the President has been saying on the campaign trail, which is that the rise in cases in the U.S. is due to a rise in testing.

Today, Admiral Giroir told it today show that is not the reason cases are up the United States. He said just look at the hospitalizations as a point of fact when it comes to that. And he also disputed what Mark Meadows said on Sunday. That's the chief of staff who of course said we are not going to get control of the pandemic and Admiral Giroir said, no, we can control the pandemic if you take smart measures like wearing masks, avoiding large crowds, watching what you're doing over the holidays.

And then of course, the ultimate struggle today that you saw coming out of the White House was that document that was released touting ending the pandemic as an accomplishment of President Trump's first term in office when obviously, it is not over, it has not ended and we are still very much in the middle of it.

And of course, that's something that a comms director here at the White House said earlier today was a poorly worded statement. And you see Joe Biden hitting several of those notes as he was speaking there after getting this briefing on coronavirus.

[12:55:05]

And so I think the ultimate question that we still don't know the answer to is how the voters view the two candidates and the way they're taking this on the campaign trail and seeing the president holding large rallies, as he did yesterday, as he's expected to in a few hours here today, compared with Joe Biden's approach, and we don't know the answer to that yet, John. But of course, we can see how they're responding to it so far on the campaign trail.

KING: We will know soon enough, maybe not soon enough for some but soon enough. Kaitlan Collins at the White House, grateful for that. Thanks for sharing your time with us today. Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage after a quick break. Take care.

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