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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Battleground Arizona; White House Claims Victory Over COVID-19 Pandemic?. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 28, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

DR. EDWARD STENEHJEM, INTERMOUNTAIN HEALTHCARE: And it's really going to be something like that that is really going to make an impact on our community-based cases.

Right now, we're continuing to call upon the community to always wear a mask and be 100 percent compliant with mask use.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes.

STENEHJEM: But, also, really minimize your close contact.

So, now's the time to not can't congregate with your friends and your family. And that's a hard sell as we go into the holiday season.

KEILAR: It certainly is hard, Dr. Stenehjem, so important, though.

Thank you so much.

And our special coverage will continue now with Jake Tapper.

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

We begin today with the 2020 lead, six days until Election Day in the United States.

This hour, President Trump will kick off his first of two rallies in the pivotal state of Arizona. These are events that health officials call reckless, given the number of new coronavirus cases reaching new records in the U.S. and, of course, specific guidelines suggesting the opposite of what we see at these rallies, no masks required, no distancing, groups tightly packed together.

It is a stunning scene, as President Trump repeatedly and falsely claims that the U.S. is rounding the corner on the pandemic. Now the White House appears to be going one step further, falsely touting that President Trump can claim credit for -- quote -- "ending the coronavirus pandemic."

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy saying in a press release today, highlighting the Trump administration's supposed accomplishments -- quote -- "ending the COVID-19 pandemic. From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the administration has taken decisive actions to engage scientists and health professionals in academia, industry and government to understand, treat and defeat the disease."

The pandemic is not over. The disease has not been defeated. It has not ended. In terms of the spread of the virus in the U.S., it has, in fact, never been worse.

For the first time ever, the U.S. added more than half-a-million new cases in one single week. Twenty states saw a record high of average new coronavirus cases just yesterday. Other markers bringing bad news, according to the COVID Tracking Project, only three states have seen hospitalizations fall since the beginning of this month, and deaths, sadly, also climbing, now up to more than 226,000 people in the U.S. dead from the virus, more than any country on Earth, according to official numbers.

This is not an accomplishment to be touted. This is not the end of the pandemic. The White House today tried to downplay the release, calling it poorly worded, but still falsely repeating the lie that the U.S. is rounding the corner on the virus, which the U.S. is not.

Let's get right to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who's live in Bullhead City, Arizona.

And, Jeremy, the president is going to speak this hour in a county he won in 2016 with nearly 74 percent of the vote. So, that's real Trump country. What's his final pitch?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the president is here in Mohave County to rile up his base and to try and drive up Republican turnout in a state that the president won four years ago by four points, but where he is now, according to most recent polls, trailing the former Vice President Joe Biden by that exact same margin.

But, Jake, the president's final pitch, ultimately, to voters across the country is what you are seeing right here, which is the president of the United States asking thousands of people to pack shoulder to shoulder, wearing no masks, doing no social distancing whatsoever here.

And it's also the president's messaging, which is to say that the surge of coronavirus cases across the country, that the president is trying to convince people that it is not real.

But it is real, Jake. And what we know is that the administration's own public health experts have said that events like this one are going to increase the spread of the coronavirus and could lead to preventable deaths.

TAPPER: Jeremy, what is the White House saying about the Science Office memo from the White House falsely claiming that the administration can claim credit for -- quote -- "ending the pandemic"?

DIAMOND: Yes, this news release from the Office of Science and Technology Policy yesterday said -- quote -- "Ending the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the administration's accomplishments."

But this pandemic is nowhere from over. The White House communications director, Alyssa Farah, she said today that that news release was poorly worded, but she also insisted that the administration is still rounding the corner on this virus and that President Trump is defeating this virus.

Of course, we know, Jake, just yesterday, 20 states had their highest average of daily coronavirus cases. And in just the last week, we have seen a half-a-million cases here in the United States -- Jake

TAPPER: Just complete and utter denial.

Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.

In Delaware, Joe Biden outlined his plan to beat coronavirus, and he slammed the Trump administration for falsely claiming they ended the pandemic.

Jessica Dean joins us now live.

[15:05:00]

And, Jessica, the whole strategy of Joe Biden's campaign is to focus on President Trump's handling or mishandling of the virus. This memo from the White House office claiming credit for ending the virus, that's a gift to Biden, I would think.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

It just gives them this gift to go right at him, use the numbers, use the data to say, this simply is not true, and also offer this stark contrast to the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

And I think it tells you a lot that here we are, six days out from the election, and Joe Biden is spending the day doing a socially distanced briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, and then briefing and giving remarks publicly.

Jake, he is really trying to show people, here's how a President Biden would be handling this pandemic. See how different this is than what President Trump is doing right now with his rallies, which we just saw with Jeremy, with everybody shoved in there without masks, not socially distanced.

Biden also taking a moment to respond, really incredulously, to this White House memo claiming that President Trump ended the pandemic, when we're seeing these numbers that are higher than before. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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.

And the longer he's in charge, the more reckless he gets. It's enough. It's time to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The Biden campaign is hoping that Americans are watching this and want a change and are willing to vote on this response to the coronavirus pandemic, Jake.

And Vice President Biden going on today to say that, again, on day one, he has a plan. Science and doctors and experts will be leading it. And he acknowledges it can't turn around overnight. It's going to be hard work, but that he has a plan, and if he's elected on day one, he will work to put it into action.

TAPPER: All right, Jessica Dean covering the Biden campaign for us, thank you.

Let's go back to battleground Arizona, where President Trump is not the only one on the ground today. Vice presidential candidate Democrat Senator Kamala Harris also on the stump in Tucson and Phoenix. A new poll of polls shows Joe Biden with a narrow lead in Arizona, after Trump pulled off a win there in 2016, 49 percent for Biden, 45 percent for Trump.

CNN's Kyung Lah now takes a look at the possible change of tide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just leave them over here, sweetheart.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An election for the ages.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you put stickers on these?

LAH: All ages for this Phoenix, Arizona, family, volunteering to flip the state blue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be people were pissed off that have been -- it used to be a really red state.

LAH: But change has arrived, say Elio (ph) and his wife, Cat (ph). Like many new Arizonans, they're younger, college-educated, and voting Democratic, helping turn their state into a battleground.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's definitely been a shift, pretty -- a very noticeable shift. Arizona has grown growing very rapidly. It's no longer just a place for retirees. And it's going to change because there's more families like us.

LAH: Families like theirs are part of Maricopa County's population boom. About 200 new residents relocate to Phoenix's most populous and politically powerful county every single day.

(on camera): It used to look like that?

KIRK ADAMS, FORMER ARIZONA GUBERNATORIAL CHIEF OF STAFF: Yes, there used to be cowboys out here.

LAH (voice-over): Now?

ADAMS: It's upper middle income, it's professionals, it's highly educated. It is having a political effect. There's no doubt about it.

LAH: Kirk Adams should know. A decade ago, he was one of the top elected officials in the state. Arizona has voted for Republican presidential candidates since 1952, with the exception of Bill Clinton in 1996. And this year?

ADAMS: It's advantage Joe Biden.

LAH (on camera): Is that hard -- like, is that shocking for you to say still?

ADAMS: It is still this shocking for me to get those words out of my mouth, yes. President Trump was sort of like gasoline on that fire. He was the accelerant that has produced sort of the position, the political position that we find the state in today.

NARRATOR: Because Joe Biden knows this moment is not about him.

LAH (voice-over): The Biden campaign and its allies are spending $6.7 million TV ads in Arizona the week before the election.

NARRATOR: He will continue to fight for you.

LAH: About $3 million more than the Trump campaign and Republican groups, according to data from the ad tracking firm Kantar Media.

Both President Trump and Joe Biden have made Arizona a top priority, increasing their presence and ground game as Election Day approaches. Adding to the changing demographics, about one-third of Maricopa County is now Latino.

Maggie Acosta believes new Latino voters and new residents could help Democrats take the state.

(on camera): Do you feel it's different this year?

[15:10:00]

MAGGIE ACOSTA, DEMOCRATIC CANVASSER: Yes, it is, as more Latinos are getting out there to vote.

LAH (voice-over): A once reliable red state now home to opposing views.

(on camera): If Arizona stays red, will it discourage you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, she will say no, but--

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will keep working.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we will keep working.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: Maricopa's county recorder says 1.26 million ballots as of today have now been cast. Those are signature-verified ballots. That number is higher than all of the early votes that were cast in 2016.

We are seeing similar records being broken in Pima County. So, Jake, no matter which way you slice it, the two biggest counties already setting records -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Kyung Lah in Arizona, with its electoral votes, 11 electoral votes.

New word from Dr. Fauci today about when we might start getting back to normal. We will tell you what he says.

Plus: President Trump's claims about COVID and testing disputed by the man actually in charge of testing.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:25]

TAPPER: In our national lead: the coronavirus pandemic going from bad to worse in this country, adding more than 73,000 new cases just yesterday, the fourth highest total of the entire pandemic.

Forty states are heading in the wrong direction. Only one, Missouri, has fewer new cases this week than it did a week ago.

The nation's testing czar, deploying facts, once again contradicted his boss, the president, this morning, saying that cases are on the rise, and it is not because of testing, as CNN's Nick Watt reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're rounding the curve. We're rounding the corner. It's happening.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What actually happened yesterday in Wisconsin, where the president said those words, more people were killed by COVID-19 in a single day than ever before, and record numbers in the hospital.

DR. NASIA SAFDAR, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF INFECTION CONTROL, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOSPITAL: If the trajectory continues the way it is now, it's almost certain that we will find ourselves in a place where we will have to decide who gets the care.

WATT: Staff shortages forecast and feared.

GOV. TONY EVERS (D-WI): There's no way to sugarcoat it. We are facing an urgent crisis. And there is an imminent risk to you, your family members.

WATT: Since October 1, 29 states have reported their highest daily case count of this entire pandemic. Nationwide, we just added more than a half-million new cases in a week. The president says it's just more testing. His own testing czar says he's wrong.

ADM. BRETT GIROIR, U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: We do assess that the cases are actually going up, they're real, because hospitalizations and deaths are starting to go up.

WATT: The average daily death toll just topped 800 for the first time in more than a month.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: If we continue our current behavior, by the time we start to go down the other side of the curve, a half-a-million people will be dead.

WATT: Reintroducing restrictions now a very real possibility many places.

GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): Now it's pretty much up and down the state. I continue to think it's more likely scalpel, community-focused, surging of capacities and enforcement. But we have to leave all options on the table.

WATT: Record COVID-19 hospitalizations now in 13 states, Ohio among them.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): The current increase in utilization is noticeably sharper, steeper than the increase we saw during the summer peak.

WATT: This is life, but not as we knew it.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: I think it will be easily by the end of 2021 and perhaps even into the next year before we start having some semblances of normality.

WATT: This baseball season was very far from normality. The Dodgers, a 32-year wait for a World Series is over, but COVID-tinged. There's third baseman Justin Turner celebrating postgame. In the seventh inning, the team learned he's tested positive.

ANDREW FRIEDMAN, PRESIDENT OF BASEBALL OPERATIONS, LOS ANGELES DODGERS: Obviously, incredibly unfortunate, but kind of speaks to what all of us are going through in 2020.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WATT: And one of the big unanswered questions is, how long might immunity last after infection?

And on that, some potentially worrying news out of South Dakota, where officials have identified 28 people as possible reinfections. So, they tested positive, and they tested positive again within 90 days. They are still investigating -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Nick Watt, congrats on the Dodgers, by the way.

Joining me to discuss, Dr. Craig Spencer. He's the director of global health and emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center.

Dr. Spencer, thanks for joining us.

So, you're an E.R. doctor in New York. That was the hardest-hit state earlier this year. You know firsthand what it's like to have overwhelmed doctors and hospitals. And now city leaders across the country are preparing for the same scenario.

Listen to the mayor of El Paso.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEE MARGO (R), MAYOR OF EL PASO, TEXAS: We're looking at an alternate care site at our convention center, which was set up with 50 beds and then it can be expanded to 100. But it's not -- it's not good.

We're air-evacing non-COVID positive patients, if we need to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, as somebody who has been through what they're about to go through, how hard is it? What advice can you offer them?

DR. CRAIG SPENCER, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Well, this is just incredibly unsettling and maddening, because, if you remember, I was on your show in early March, before we got hit on the head with COVID cases here.

[15:20:00]

And, since then, we have learned so much, but we keep being told that we're rounding the corner. We have rounded the corner so many times that we're going around in circles and having the exact same discussions that you and I were having in March about what we needed to do to get this crisis under control.

At that time, all of us were concerned what was going to happen in big cities. But we also brought up, hey, what happens when this hits rural areas, where ICU bed capacity is significantly less than big metropolitan areas?

And look where we're at right now. The biggest per capita outbreaks of COVID are in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Montana, and Wyoming. But this virus is all over the country. You have already presented the numbers, hospitalizations up, cases up. Deaths are up.

We're having the same discussions that we have been having for months. And, unfortunately, all we're hearing from the White House and this administration is, we're rounding the corner, and all we want to talk about is COVID, because, for some reason, that's what we're fixated on, not the fact that this is getting worse because of their abject failure.

TAPPER: What do you want them to do? Obviously, the president could start by encouraging mask-wearing and stopping his hosting of these super-spreader events all over the country, these campaign rallies, where we already know people have been infected.

Other than that, what do you want the Trump administration to be doing?

SPENCER: We need them to be honest, and transparent and accountable. How many times over the past few days has the president tweeted out, that's all we're focused on is COVID?

Well, he knows that because people are so worried about it. This isn't a New York thing. This isn't a North Dakota thing. This is a U.S. thing. We have the overwhelming highest number of cases and deaths anywhere in the world. We need them to increase testing. We need them to take this seriously. We need them to focus on personal protective equipment.

Again, in March, when we talked, I was concerned about the number of N95s that we were going to have for physicians and health care providers all over this country. I'm still worried about that in October, because, as cases increase, as we get more people coming in with the flu, as we have more COVID cases, we're going to need more PPE. And we just don't have enough going into the fall and winter.

What I want them to do is, I want them to come up with a real plan and put it in place, as opposed to what they have apparently adopted, the herd immunity plan, which is not really a public health plan. It's the repudiation of one.

TAPPER: When you look at how cases are spreading across the entire United States, the map is nearly entirely red, showing cases going up, as opposed to last week, 40 states reporting a higher rate of new cases this week than last week, the U.S. now averaging over 30 -- I'm sorry -- over 70,000 new cases diagnosed today, 70,000.

How much worse do you think this is going to get before it starts to get better?

SPENCER: I think that depends on what happens. Regardless of what administration is in place on November 4 or on January 1, this is going to get more tourists over the next coming weeks and the next couple months.

I expect that we will have over 100,000 cases per day in the coming weeks. We have 44,000 hospitalizations, and that number is only going to increase. Even if we are doing better in terms of patient care and decreasing the likelihood that each patient dies from COVID, if we have this overwhelming number of people in our hospitals, the death toll is going to continue to climb.

We need to get this under control now, because we're heading into a fall and winter with a really, really bad trajectory. Compared to just a few weeks ago, only a few states, only three states have fewer people in the hospital for COVID than they did just a couple weeks ago.

This is a bad direction. This is not what we need to be doing.

TAPPER: Do you have in New York the capacity for testing and contact tracing that you need?

SPENCER: Yes, well, this is the really good point, when you spoke about the testing czar saying that it's not just testing that is causing cases to go up.

Look at what we're doing in New York. We have a huge amount of testing. We have stepped that up since the beginning of the pandemic. We're still at around 1, 1.5 percent positive. We're finding all of those cases and we're trying to prevent the spread.

We have to test people. We have to know who is positive, so we can give them the guidance to stay at home and to isolate, prevent the spread from other people.

We have the testing here that we need. I think that's reflected in our numbers and how we have gotten this under control, after having it really kind of out of control initially. But we don't have enough testing still across the country. We have a lot more now than we did a month or two months ago.

But the fact that we're still having percent positivity of testing that's creeping up to 5, 6, 7 percent all across the country means that we don't have enough testing and need to greatly expand that, as opposed to what this administration was pushing at the CDC, which was, let's stop testing asymptomatic contacts, which is pure public health craziness.

TAPPER: All right, Dr. Craig Spencer, thank you so much, and best of luck to you. Stay in touch. We want to have you back on.

A ludicrous claim from the White House. Why is the White House Science Office bragging that President Trump has ended the pandemic, when he hasn't and new cases are hitting record levels?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:43]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

TAPPER: And we have some breaking news for you: the identity of Anonymous revealed. We now know who the senior administration official was who wrote that alarming 2018 "New York Times" op-ed titled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration," which detailed how the author and other members of the Trump administration deliberately worked to undermine orders by President Trump.