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The Lead with Jake Tapper

New Filings Show Trump Campaign Had $63 Million Going into October Compared to Biden's $177 Million; Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's Get Out The Vote Stream on Twitch Racked Up More Than 4.7 Million Views; White House Gets Pushback on Size of Stimulus Plan from GOP Senators; Virginia School District Forced to Cancel Classes Due to Internet Outage. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 21, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: But that is a big difference when it comes to cash on hand.

MIA LOVE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, Joe Biden came into October with three times the amount of money that President Trump came into. And I think that that's concerning for two reasons. One is you are no longer a challenger. You are an incumbent and if you are not getting more people to support you financially that should raise some eyebrows. And at least you should recognize something's wrong here.

I think that if you go into this thinking that everything's OK, that is a sure way to lose a race. You always have to feel as if you are behind, and he certainly is financially, but that kind of shows -- well, I don't say kind of, it shows that he should have more support than he has right now, and Joe Biden shouldn't be outraising him as much as he is. Three times is a big amount.

TAPPER: And, Paul, I had to ask my kids what this was. Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez last night held a huge "get out the vote" event, it was on Twitch, that's an online streaming platform where she played a game that my kids are familiar with. And she racked up more than 4.7 million views. You play this game while you're talking, you can take questions. I mean she's the first politician in the federal government, I know, to do something like this. What do you make of it?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Just brilliant. It is brilliant. First, I didn't know what it was, either. I figured Mr. Trump probably doesn't. Probably thinks Twitch is like a side effect from the steroids they've got him on.

But this is brilliant. They teach political organizers meet people where they live, right. And people are living on Twitch. They're gaming, and particularly the people that represented Ocasio-Cortez and the Democrats want to reach. I just think it's brilliant.

More broadly as someone from the Clinton wing of the party, not the AOC Bernie wing of the party. I have been really impressed at how hard Bernie, AOC and the left have worked to bring people into this process and have them vote for Joe. Joe Biden probably their fourth or fifth choice. 2016 one of the reason Hillary lost is some -- too many on the left took a walk.

Either stayed home or they voted for third- and fourth-party candidates. I don't see that now and I think people like me owe it to just to honesty and integrity to thank AOC, and to thank Bernie and the folks who in the primaries were on the opposite side of, for just what terrific team players they're being in this election.

TAPPER: Lastly, Congresswoman Mia Love, your fellow Utahan, Senator Mitt Romney, did not vote for Trump. He didn't say who he voted for. Last time I think he wrote in his wife, Ann Romney.

Have you voted yet? You want to tell us who you voted for? You don't have to, there's privacy in this country, but -- have you voted yet?

LOVE: You know what, I have told you who I'm not voting for, and I have to tell you -- to me this is not about -- I just can't see myself voting for the best of two candidates that I just don't think are the best choices. I refuse to play that -- you know, I am certainly going to vote. Whether I write in a name is something that's left to be determined.

TAPPER: OK, so another Utah Republican not voting for President Trump is what I'm taking from that. Congresswoman Mia Love --

LOVE: I haven't said anything. I just haven't made a choice. You're right, yes.

TAPPER: OK. Congresswoman Mia Love, Paul Begala, thank you so much, appreciate you both.

Coming up, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doing something it has not done in months, with health experts warning of a painful winter ahead. Stay with us.

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TAPPER: We have some breaking news in our HEALTH LEAD now. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, long regarded as the world's premier public health agency, is doing something we have not seen at all during this pandemic. The CDC is holding an in-person, on- camera briefing with Director Dr. Robert Redfield and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is at the briefing which we expect to begin in moments. And Elizabeth, the CDC has been repeatedly sidelined by the White House during this pandemic, so the fact they're holding this briefing is significant in and of itself. What are we expecting to hear?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we'll be listening for tone. We'll be listening for does Secretary Azar and Dr. Redfield, will they be encouraging mask usage even though their boss President Trump has made fun of people who wear masks.

Will they be encouraging other kinds of efforts when their President has said, people are tired of COVID, that's the kind of thing that we're going to be listening for. Also, how optimistic are they that there's going to be a vaccine by the end of the year -- Jake?

TAPPER: And ahead of today's briefing HHS Secretary Azar and the Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, they both shared personal stories about how the pandemic has affected them. What did they have to say?

COHEN: Yes, it was actually very touching, Jake. So, Dr. Adams talked about how his wife has cancer, sadly, and that her diagnosis was delayed because of COVID. And so, he shared that story.

And Secretary Azar revealed that his father had died during the pandemic and that he didn't get to spend his final months with him, and that he didn't get to mourn communally with other people as we like to do.

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And so, sharing those stories, I thought, was very touching, because people learn from people. And I thought that was very touching, especially since, again, their boss, President Trump, has repeatedly said, his virus is nothing. He makes it sound like not a big deal. These two men were saying just within their immediate families, it is a big deal, and hopefully people can listen to other people's stories and learn.

TAPPER: All right, Elizabeth Cohen at the CDC, thank you so much.

Now to our MONEY LEAD. Nearly 24 hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's self-imposed deadline, negotiations on a new stimulus bill are still ongoing. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says he is optimistic that a deal will be reached. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is clearly less than enthusiastic about a costly spending package.

CNN's Manu Raju is live on Capitol Hill with the latest for us. Manu break it down for us. Where are negotiations right now?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, Mark Meadows was just up on Capitol Hill talking to Senate Republicans, and he got an earful from Republicans who are concerned about the direction of these talks with Nancy Pelosi.

Several Senate Republicans who I spoke with who emerged from this lunch said that the concerns are that the President and the White House are moving way too close to what Nancy Pelosi wants and moving much further away to what their liking is about the overall price tag of this deal.

And plus, they have a lot of questions about what exactly is in the negotiations? What have Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Nancy Pelosi agreed to?

Mark Meadows didn't have many answers about what they've agreed to so far, I'm told one Senator Shelley Moore Capito told me that Meadows got a lot of, quote, pushback, the question being, why are they bidding this so high and they're going to lose so much Republican support?

So, there's a growing expectation on the Hill, Jake, that any deal will likely slip until after the election, even if Nancy Pelosi and the White House say they have a deal in principle. Getting final passing through both chambers may wait for a lame duck session of Congress after the election when they're free of election pressures. But that is no relief for people who are waiting for Congress to do something.

They may have to wait even longer as Pelosi and Mnuchin are still trying to nail down a number of details, but they are indicating they're moving closer to getting an ultimate agreement here -- Jake.

TAPPER: Yes, millions of Americans have fallen into poverty and need that relief. Manu Raju, thank you so much.

More than 2 and a half million years of life have been lost in the United States due to the pandemic according a new study, and we want to take the time to remember just one of those more than 221,000 lives.

Danny Gonzalez was 54 years old, he died just five days after being admitted to the hospital. Gonzalez worked as a land surveyor in southern California for more than 30 years. His family says one of his greatest accomplishments was working on the new Los Angeles Rams stadium.

He was a provider for his wife of 36 years, four daughters, two grand granddaughters. They remember him as the life of the party, always in a good mood and smiling. May his memory and the memories of all those lost be a blessing.

Coming up, children across the U.S. are enduring another devastating impact of the pandemic, as another city stops in-person learning due to surging cases.

Plus, we're getting a brand-new CNN poll at the top of the hour. See who has the advantage in two key battleground states inside two weeks until election day.

Stay with us.

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TAPPER: In our NATIONAL LEAD, today Boston's public schools announced that they will move back to all virtual learning because coronavirus cases are spiking. In Michigan, 84 schools have reported COVID cases, but in New York City, the nation's largest school district where kids are learning in-person and virtually, there has been no reported major outbreak.

Joining me now is Alexandra, Virginia's Public School Superintendent Gregory Hutchings where classes now are all virtual.

Thanks for joining me, Mr. Superintendent. I appreciate it. Just today in Arlington, Virginia classes were canceled because of an internet outage. I have to say as a father whose kids are learning virtually, online learning brings so many challenges. Do you think kid are learning less because of this crisis?

GREGORY HUTCHINGS, ALEXANDRA CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT: You know, Jake, I think that is the million-dollar question. I really do think that kids are not learning the best in this situation, and we're trying to do everything possible in this, you know, pandemic that we're experiencing right now. But it is absolutely not the best learning for our kids virtually.

TAPPER: In Alexandria, you're planning to bring students back gradually and in smaller groups, starting first with children with disabilities. When do you anticipate that every student in your district will be back in the classroom? Not until there's a vaccine?

HUTCHINGS: So, you know, I think having all of our students at one time in our classrooms, it definitely, probably won't be until a vaccine occurs. You know, this pandemic is completely unpredictable and there's so many uncertainties that we have that it is clearly impossible to have all of our students back, especially trying to meet the CDC guidelines of 6-feet distancing.

TAPPER: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said yesterday that it is not the Department of Education's job to track schools' coronavirus reopening plans.

I would think that that attitude might make your job more difficult. I mean as a parent, I would love to know what works in some schools and some states and what has not worked?

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I assume you would as well. Is the Department of Education failing here?

HUTCHINGS: Yes, you know, we need a lot more support from the U.S. Department of Education. I really believe that not receiving the guidance especially at the local level it really puts us in a very, you know, tough situation because we are now forced to make these decisions in a vacuum.

And I think the U.S. Department of Ed could provide more guidance as well as resources and suggestions for us, really dealing with this global pandemic and the needs of our students.

TAPPER: I'm sure you've looked into every possible option. I know you want to have the schools open. A simulation in one classroom found that open windows, glass, desk shields, hand hygiene, obviously, masks could dramatically reduce the risk of spreading the virus. Why not do that? Is that not enough?

HUTCHINGS: Well you know that's -- we can do some of those things. I think the bigger issue is the capacity, the building capacity. Trying to have or meet the CDC guidelines of six feet distancing in our classrooms, it really limits the number of students that can be in a classroom at a particular time which has building constraints.

And then we also have our staff, and, you know, I think it's so important for us to remember that our staff members are a part of this global pandemic as well. So if they have challenges with health conditions or they have, you know, age restrictions or they have, you know, situations in their family circumstances that are impacting them and not making them able to be in our schools, that has a significant impact on our operations.

So, beyond the safety component for returning to school, it's the building capacity, as well as the staffing constraints.

TAPPER: Is it fiscally impossible, is it just not affordable to come up with some sort of plan where you would be able to test students, teachers, faculty, support staff, et cetera, once every two weeks just so that you could have classrooms, you know, with mask wearing and everything you can do, and then you're just keeping a track on whenever there's an outbreak? Is there just not enough money, not enough testing for that sort of thing?

HUTCHINGS: I believe it's both money and testing. You know, I think when we were talking to our health professionals just recently and there are limitations in regards the amount of testing. If we are testing all of our students and all of our staff every couple of weeks, that has a significant impact on the testing out in the city or in our communities. So that could have a negative impact.

So the testing of all of our staff and all of our students I think is unreasonable. But we will need to follow some of the other safety precautions such as six foot distancing and having the face coverings and making sure that we're doing our cleaning protocols on a continuous basis. I think those things can definitely help us.

TAPPER: I don't understand. How would testing adversely affect other people or in the city or -- I guess I don't understand. I can understand not being able to afford it but why wouldn't you do it, if you could do it?

HUTCHINGS: Yes, so what I was meaning by that is some of the tests that are being available to test our communities. If we are now using those tests for all of our students and all of our staff members that could have a negative impact --

TAPPER: Because you're taking them away from the other people.

HUTCHINGS: Yes, it's what I meant by that. Not necessarily that the testing was going to be a negative piece. But it's using those testing resources every two weeks. It would be significant having all of our staff and our students tested every 14 days.

TAPPER: Yes, I get it but, I mean, I just have to say as a parent, I mean, I don't know how much kids are learning during this and, obviously, you know this better than I do. It's causing tremendous emotional pain. There's increased suicidal ideation, increased alcohol and drug abuse, all sorts of horrific impacts on kids.

I mean this is going to leave scars for some kids for decades. You know running a public-school system there are -- I mean I don't know what the situation is in your school system, but I've seen reports of other ones where there are just thousands of kids who don't logon. They have a computer, they have wi-fi, but their parents are out at work. How bad are those concerns? I know you share those concerns. How bad is that situation in Alexandria schools?

HUTCHINGS: Yes, so I do, I share those concerns as well. And what we are seeing is about 93 percent of our students are engaged in our online learning.

We've been fortunate to have the technology devices and the technology infrastructure to actually accommodate the virtual leaning in Alexandria. I do think that some of the major challenges is the socialization that our students really thrive on and especially our youngest learners. I mean I was just talking to a parent recently via email around their kindergartener who's having to learn how to read virtually.

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And that has a significant negative impact on our students so we are trying to work through how we can at least meet the needs of our most vulnerable students. Meaning our early learners, our students with special needs, our English learners to make this possible. But it is going to be impossible to bring everybody back into our facilities.

TAPPER: All right, Gregory Hutchings, thanks so much, really appreciate it. And best of luck to you and all your students and faculty.

Coming up, some brand-new CNN polls out in moments right here on THE LEAD. What it looks like in perhaps the two most critical battleground states and bringing the closer to a mound, very soon former President Barack Obama will make

his first appearance on the campaign trail for Joe Biden in one of those states. Stay with us.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news!

TAPPER: And welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We begin this second hour of THE LEAD with breaking news in our 2020 LEAD, brand-new CNN polling from two key battleground states, Pennsylvania and Florida, two key battleground states.