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The Lead with Jake Tapper

U.S. Tops 1,000 Daily COVID-19 Deaths; Biden, Trump Set For Final Debate. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 22, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:02]

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But one notable exception remains the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who, for months, has remained in isolation, essentially inside a bubble -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Fred, thank you for that report.

And our special coverage continues now with Jake Tapper.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

And we begin today with our 2020 lead.

In a matter of just hours, we're going to see the final presidential debate of this presidential election, just 12 days ahead of Election Day. It's one of the last opportunities for President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden to make their closing arguments to American voters.

And while Biden has been off the trail, we're told, preparing for the debate, President Trump has been holding big rallies across the country, potential coronavirus super-spreader events, health officials say, and shunning formal debate prep.

We're learning key new details of the candidates' strategies. After the president's frequent interruptions in the first debate, a performance a renowned psychiatrist called emotionally abusive, Trump advisers are pleading with President Trump to be less combative this time.

The nonpartisan Debate Commission says it will mute candidates microphones during some portions of the debate tonight. Team Biden officials say they're preparing the Democratic nominee for all sorts of Trump tactics, from frequent interruptions to once again going after members of the Biden family.

Even if a theoretically muted mic means that those outside the arena at Belmont University in Nashville cannot hear what the president is saying, advisers are telling President Trump if he's able to lower the temperature and appear less angry, he may come across more likable and be able to win over women voters and seniors. Let's get right to CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's live outside the White

House for us.

So, Jeremy, so far, the president does not seem to be lowering the temperature in any way. He's been out there attacking Lesley Stahl from "60 Minutes," pushing forward whatever right-wing media folks are pushing today.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jake.

And all the while the president is being encouraged to avoid much of the angry bulldozer-like behavior that we saw from presidents in that first presidential debate. And we already know from the polls that much of that behavior was turning off some potential undecided voters, which is why the president's advisers are urging him to try and lower the temperature.

Now, we know that the Debate Commission has already taken care of part of the problem, which was the constant interruptions, by muting the microphones during the candidates' uninterrupted talk time.

But the president's aides are also making clear that a lot of this is going to be on the president himself. And what they are urging him to do, besides trying to lower the temperature, is to use self- deprecating humor, which they think is one of the ways that the president kind of comes off the best to voters.

Of course, the president has seemed receptive to some of that, Jake, in these private sessions. But it's not being reflected in the hours ahead of the debate. What we have seen from the president is these constant attacks against the debate moderator, Kristen Welker, from NBC News.

He has been on this very strange, constant barrage of attacks against "60 Minutes." And he's also complaining about the debate rules being unfair, when he's talking about the microphones being muted.

But, ultimately, it seems the president has a trump card, according to his communications director, Alyssa Farah, who said that the president, if he doesn't like the questions, ultimately, he's just going to answer the question that he would have liked to have received.

TAPPER: What better way to win over women voters than by attacking two women journalists who are held in very high esteem, Kristen Welker and Lesley Stahl?

We also got a preview of what President Trump will likely say about the economy, which is an issue where his advisers, his aides want him to focus on. How is that going to hold up?

DIAMOND: Well, look, Jake, much of the president's closing message so far has been counterfactual, has been about denying the reality of the surge of coronavirus cases that we are seeing across the country, holding these rallies with thousands of people, despite what we are seeing in terms of case numbers rising, more than 1,100 people dead yesterday -- just yesterday.

And the president is also trying to claim that, if it were not for the coronavirus, the U.S. would have the best economy in its history.

Listen to what he told "60 Minutes."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESLEY STAHL, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: Let me ask you what you think your biggest domestic priority is for you right now.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, ultimately, let me -- and I will tell you, it was happening. We created the greatest economy in the history of our country.

And the other side was coming in--

STAHL: You know that -- you know that's not true.

TRUMP: It is totally true.

STAHL: No.

TRUMP: Virtually every number was the best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And Lesley Stahl is correct to point out that that is simply not true.

While the economy was in a strong position before the coronavirus hit the United States and the rest of the world, it was not the best economy in history by a number of metrics, whether you look at GDP growth, or whether you look at wage growth. This was not the best economy in history.

But I think you can expect, Jake, that the president will continue to make that claim. The question is, will he be fact-checked or will he be confronted by former Vice President Joe Biden when he makes those kinds of claims tonight, Jake?

TAPPER: Yes, I mean, the economy was strong before coronavirus, but now we're living with coronavirus. It's almost irrelevant.

Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

[15:05:00]

Moments ago, we heard from Joe Biden as he boarded the plane to head to tonight's debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hopefully, he's going to play by the rules. Hopefully, everybody's been tested. Hopefully, it's all worked out, the way the rules are. I'm looking forward to this. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The Biden campaign says that the candidate's strategy tonight is simple, to speak directly to the American people and highlight his plans for getting the nation through the coronavirus pandemic.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is live for us outside the debate site in Nashville.

Arlette, walk us through exactly how the Biden team is approaching this debate.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Jake, Joe Biden is expected tonight to keep his focus on the issues that are top of mind for American voters.

The campaign says that he will be talking about COVID-19 and the economy. But he is also fully bracing for those personal attacks from President Trump, as we saw play out during that first debate. They have been preparing the former vice president for the possibility that the president once again goes after his son Hunter Biden, as Republicans have tried to do over the course of the past few days, as this election nears its end.

And deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield just a short while ago said that, if the president does bring up some of these attacks against Hunter Biden, that this is essentially amplifying Russian disinformation.

They don't believe that Biden will take the bait and go after the president's own children during these types of exchanges, instead trying to shift the focus back to the American family and those issues relating to COVID-19 and the economy.

Now, one area that President Trump could try to take issue with, with Biden is this question about expanding the Supreme Court. It's a question that Biden has dodged for several weeks, but he did offer a bit of a new answer in an interview with "60 Minutes."

Take a listen to that clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: If elected, what I will do is, I will put together a national commission of -- bipartisan commission of scholars, constitutional scholars, Democrats, Republicans, liberal, conservative, and I will ask them to over 180 days come back to me with recommendations as to how to reform the court system, because it's getting out of whack, the way in which it's being handled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: And Biden said that that commission won't just focus on the issue of expanding the Supreme Court, but also other reforms to the court system.

Now, on that debate stage tonight, there will be moments where the microphone is muted, but the Biden campaign is fully prepared for the president to continue on with his interruptions, the possibility that the former vice president might be hearing the president when speaking when people at home might not hear those interruptions.

They have been preparing him for those moments trying to ensure that he is not entirely distracted by the president. You heard the former vice president, as he was leaving, saying he hopes that the president adheres to the rules.

He also talked about adhering to the rules when it comes to testing. One thing that we know is that Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19 this morning. We have yet to hear if that has actually happened on the president's side just yet.

But this is going to be that last opportunity on the debate stage for voters to get their glimpse, to fully gauge these two candidates up against each other 12 days out to the election.

TAPPER: We still haven't heard if President Trump tested negative before the first debate, Arlette. Forget today's debate.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: All right, thanks so much appreciate it.

In a hastily scheduled announcement, the country's top national security said that Russia and Iran have both obtained voter registration information that could be used to try and influence the U.S. election.

Here's FBI Director Christopher Wray.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We have been working for years as a community to build resilience in our election infrastructure, and, today, that infrastructure remains resilient.

You should be confident that your vote counts. Early unverified claims to the contrary should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And Alex Marquardt has more on all this.

Alex, what were the specific warnings from these top national security officials?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, you're right. It goes beyond Russia and Iran just trying to meddle in this election to sow discord and spread disinformation.

It's about specifically what they are doing. And this is the first time that the intelligence community and the FBI have said that voter registration information has been obtained by these countries.

And it's less about just obtaining that data. That's actually not that difficult. It's what they're doing with it. And what the officials said last night is that Iran has been sending out thousands of e-mails to voters, threatening e-mails to voters that make them look like they're coming from the far right pro-Trump group the Proud Boys.

I just want to show you one example of one of these e-mails that's been sent out just to show you what voters are receiving.

The subject line: "Vote for Trump, or else." And then: "We are in possession of all of your information, e-mail, address, telephone, everything. You will vote for Trump on Election Day, or we will come after you."

So some very threatening e-mails there, Jake.

[15:10:00]

Listen to what John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, had to say about what he called these spoofed e-mails from Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN RATCLIFFE, U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: We would like to alert the public that we have identified that two foreign actors, Iran and Russia, have taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections.

We have already seen Iran sending spoofed e-mails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: And, Jake, it is that last part about damaging President Trump that's raising a lot of eyebrows.

The intelligence community has said that Iran would work to undermine President Trump in this election. It is unclear how these e-mails do that, because they are going after people who would be voting presumably against President Trump.

And then, when you listen to the press conference in its entirety, there's very little emphasis on Russia, when experts and officials say that Russia is really the primary actor when it comes to meddling in this election in terms of impact, trying to denigrate the former Vice President Joe Biden in favor of President Trump -- Jake.

TAPPER: Yes, all right. Alex Marquardt, thanks so much.

There's a new timeline for the release of a coronavirus vaccine, when it could be available to all Americans -- that story next.

And just-released polls on the presidential race, do they change the potential paths to 270 for either candidate?

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:57]

TAPPER: In our national lead today: Every state in the continental United States is trending in the wrong direction, as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across the country.

This is not just with new cases, unfortunately. It's hospitalizations and deaths which are climbing as well. Yesterday, more than 1,100 deaths were reported. That's the first day since mid-September when the death toll hit more than 1,000. Four states, Ohio, Kansas, New Mexico, and Wyoming, all saw their highest number of single-day cases since the pandemic began.

And as CNN's Erica Hill reports for us now, an alarming new study finds that hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been avoided if the Trump administration had handled things differently.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems like, every day, the numbers keep increasing.

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not just an increase at this El Paso funeral home. The average daily number of COVID-related deaths is rising in half the states across the country, 1,124 reported nationwide on Wednesday, the first time deaths have topped 1,000 in more than a month.

DR. ALI KHAN, FORMER CDC OFFICIAL: There's a whole lot of people who are dead in America that -- completely preventable, would not have been dead if we had used science and good public health tools.

HILL: That's the finding from a new Columbia University study, which faults the administration's anemic response for as many as 210,000 COVID deaths.

And experts warn there is more pain ahead.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We don't just have one or two hot spots. We actually have virus hot spots surging all across the country.

HILL: New cases rising in 31 states, only Hawaii showing a meaningful decline.

North Dakota, which continues to have more cases per capita than any other state, just suspended contact tracing because it can't keep up. Florida just reported its highest daily case count since mid-August, no more indoor dining or bar service in Southern Illinois starting today, gatherings capped at 25 people.

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): Things have changed. Every region of the state has started to move in the wrong direction. HILL: In Boston, rising positivity rates forcing a return to fully remote learning for the city's public schools.

MARTY WALSH (D), MAYOR OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Putting that many people in a building at this particular moment is not the smart thing -- smartest thing to do.

HILL: Several states reporting record numbers of COVID-related hospitalizations, including New Jersey, where the former Governor Chris Christie is now urging Americans to mask up in a new op-ed, admitting he was wrong not to wear one when prepping President Trump for the first debate.

Christie decries the polarization of masks, writing: "It's not a partisan or cultural symbol, not a sign of weakness or virtue," calling out the politics, but not the man who led that charge.

DR. EZEKIEL EMANUEL, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPECIAL ADVISER: We have a president who made fun of wearing masks, who didn't let the scientists run this process and the task force. And that has been the problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Jake, we're continuing to see records shattered, Ohio just a short time ago announcing its highest single day for new cases. That was originally yesterday, now that new number, with today's cases, more than 2,400.

And the governor had this to say: "It seems like we're not even starting to get to a plateau," he said Jake. "It just goes up and up."

And, of course, that is the concern. This country never got low enough to get to a manageable plateau. And now we're seeing consistent increases.

TAPPER: And everyone says it's because people are not abiding by basic regulations, wearing masks, avoiding crowds, et cetera, et cetera.

Erica Hill, thank you so much. So dispiriting.

Joining me now, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CNN medical analyst and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Mass General.

Dr. Walensky, good to see you again.

A new report out from Columbia University found that the Trump administration's faltering response to the pandemic led to between 130,00 and 210,000 COVID deaths that, according to Colombia, could have been prevented.

Do you agree with those findings? And as long as the Trump administration is in charge and handling things the way they're handling it, is there any way to turn this around?

[15:20:04] DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good afternoon, Jake.

It's a pretty scathing report. And what they basically say is, there were deficiencies in testing, in mask guidance, and in the mitigation efforts, in shutting things down. When they compare, for example, the testing rates, the per capita testing rates that were happening in South Korea, it took us about three or four weeks for us to get to those per capita testing rates.

And, in fact, as a result, they claim that 215,000 deaths could have been averted if we had tested at rates that South Korea tested.

TAPPER: Do you -- I mean, do you buy it? That's basically saying that we would only have 5,000 or 6,000 deaths right now. I mean, that's pretty stark.

WALENSKY: Well, we do know that, in other countries, they do not have the death rates that we have had. Our death rates were at around 500 per million, those in China three per million.

So we do know that, certainly, during a pandemic, we should expect that there would be some excess deaths in this country. But the question is how many. There's been a report from the CDC just this week that demonstrated about 300,000 excess deaths, more deaths than were expected.

And looking at it by age group, only two-thirds of those were related to COVID. Even a third of those were related to lack of access to hospitalizations and care, what we have been talking about, flattening the curve. We still need to continue those efforts, because now, again, we're in a really bad place in many, many places across the country.

TAPPER: So, the CDC redefined what they call close contact with somebody who was infected, to include cumulative exposure over time. It used to be 15 minutes within six feet of a person, but now they're saying it could be 15 minutes in one-minute, 30-second, two-minute chunks.

Does that change how people should be interacting with one another?

WALENSKY: You know, this was a report out of the CDC. It was a prison guard who actually developed infection after sort of intermittent, staccato exposures.

And it's not entirely clear -- well, it's entirely clear that he got infected through this mechanism. I don't necessarily think that this is going to change much. I think, if you're wearing a mask, if you're practicing these mitigation efforts, it might increase the number of people that we need to contact trace, because the definition is a little bit more liberal.

But I would say we can't have a fatalistic attitude here. We have -- certainly, the cases are going up. There's tragedy among us and tragedy, much tragedy ahead. But there is a lot we can do. We are entirely empowered to make this better. And it's just a matter of whether the American people will do so and whether the leadership will create a strategy to allow it.

TAPPER: So Trump adviser and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie wrote an op-ed for "The Wall Street Journal" and said of masks -- quote -- "Wear it or regret it, as I did."

Christie does not mention in his op-ed that the leading underminer of mask-wearing in the United States is President Trump.

Do you think that that would have helped him make his case? Or is it better for him to not do so, so as to convince more Trump supporters of the need to wear masks?

WALENSKY: I think we communicate by the words we speak and by the actions that we take.

And I think that we need to communicate to this country that they need to be wearing masks, and that we should do so both through our leadership in our word and our action.

TAPPER: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar reiterated on CBS this morning that a vaccine -- quote -- "could" be available to all Americans by April, April 2021.

What information and statistics will you be looking for to ensure a vaccine is safe?

WALENSKY: That seems like an aggressive timeline to me.

Certainly, I would love to see that that happens.

I will be looking to the scientific evidence, to data from the FDA that has been reviewed by the scientists, reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

And so, certainly, I would like it quickly, but to all Americans by April seems rather ambitious.

The first thing I'd like to see is that we have a safe vaccine that has some efficacy. The next thing I would like to see is to follow the National Academy's guidance on how it's going to get rolled out.

But to claim all Americans are going to have it by April, I think, is aggressive.

TAPPER: Dr. Rochelle Walensky, thank you so much. Good to see you, as always.

Former President Barack Obama not showing any ring rust when it comes to giving a stump speech, but does the former president's blistering attack play right into Donald Trump's hands?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:48] TAPPER: In our 2020 lead: President Trump has landed in Nashville, the site of the final debate.

White House staff say that the president had been tested for coronavirus on his way there. And they say that his results were negative.

Ahead of the debate, President Trump has been on the attack, trying to discredit moderator Kristen Welker, who is quite respected.