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Supreme Court Fight; Nearly 200,000 People Have Now Died From COVID-19 In The U.S.; Biden Speaks As GOP, Democrats Battle Over Supreme Court; Two More GOP Senators Could Decide SCOTUS Seat Before Election. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 20, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:36]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me.

I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

The passing of the iconic U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has ignited a political firestorm in Washington over who will replace her. President Trump saying he intends to fill the seat with a female justice. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell already vowing to bring whomever the president nominates to the floor.

And at any moment now, Democratic nominee Joe Biden will take to the stage in Philadelphia to give his remarks on the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy.

All of this as another key Republican senator weighs in on a possible nomination to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before Election Day.

Our correspondents are standing by with the very latest on all of these developments.

Let's begin with CNN's Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill.

Lauren, if two more Republican senators also oppose taking up a nominee before Election Day then is the president's pick, which could be announced this week by the way, in jeopardy?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, absolutely, Fredricka. But it does take a lot to get to two more senators. And I want to run through exactly what we're hearing so far.

So We have heard from Senator Susan Collins, a Republican up for reelection in the state of Maine. We've also now heard from Lisa Murkowski this afternoon, a Republican who voted with her Democratic colleagues against Kavanaugh just a few years ago. She has a history, of crossing the aisle when it comes to these critical Supreme Court votes.

But it's important to remember that these are two of the most moderate, independent-thinking senators that exist within the Republican conference. It gets a lot harder when you start thinking about who else would join them.

I want to highlight just a few individuals we're watching really closely. One of them, of course, Mitt Romney, as Republican from Utah who voted with Democrats on one article of impeachment just a few months ago. So that was an independent streak that took part this year.

But how you get to number four, that gets even tougher because you have to remember we might be looking at people like Senator Lamar Alexander, he is retiring at the end of the year. That means there is not any political or personal cost if he decides to vote with Democrats. No tweet awaiting from the president if he decides to vote with Democrats.

But he, even though he is an institutionalist, he's close to the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and we know the courts are critical to McConnell's legacy.

So how you get to number four? It's a big, open question. We're going to be looking at people like Chuck Grassley. He is a Republican from Iowa, a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, an institutionalist, someone with sometimes an independent streak when it comes to the president of the United States.

So those are the characters that we are watching right now on Capitol Hill but like I said, it is not that unusual that Murkowski or Collins would step out from their party, imagining the next two individuals, it gets a lot tougher but certainly if you're McConnell and you're looking at the map right now of where your support is you're going to be asking questions about whether or not you have the votes to do this before the election or to have wait until the lame duck.

That's the key question right now. It is a question of timing, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Lauren.

Let's bring in a few other people to talk about all of this.

CNN's Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic and CNN White House correspondent John Harwood. So John, you first, you know, if Democrats can't do much to stop the process, you know, from going forward, what are the chances of three or four Republican senators deciding that they won't hold a vote until after the election?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think they're not very good. And to be honest, Fred, it doesn't make all that much difference if the vote is before or after the election because the real question is do you get to 50 whenever before the next president takes office, before the next senate is seated?

Now, it's possible if you waited until the lame duck that Democrats might only need to get one other senator. Why is that? Because you've got a contested election in Arizona. Mark Kelly is running against an appointed to fill a vacancy, Republican incumbent Martha McSally. Mark Kelly wins, he could be sworn in sometime in November. So that would be during the lame duck period. In that event, Mitt Romney would be sufficient to go with Collins and Murkowski.

[14:04:53]

HARWOOD: But again, given the importance of this to Mitch McConnell, given as Lauren said, this difficulty identifying those other senators to hold it up, given the fact that the president is pushing hard for this to go quickly, I think you've got to say that the odds are in favor of President Trump and Mitch McConnell of getting this done.

WHITFIELD: So Lauren, let's examine, you know, Lisa Murkowski's statement if you could, for me. You know, she says, "For weeks I have stated that I would not support taking up a potential Supreme Court vacancy this close to the election. Sadly what was then a hypothetical is now our reality but my position has not changed. I did not support taking up a nomination eight months before the 2016 election to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Justice Scalia. We are now even closer to the 2020 election, less than two months out, and I believe the same standard must apply."

But it's critical to examine what she didn't say, she did not necessarily say that she didn't like the idea of the president, you know, moving forward with this nominee and that perhaps a vote would happen during that lame duck session.

FOX: Well, that's exactly right. You know, when you lay out the differences between Collins' statement yesterday and Murkowski's statement this afternoon, there is an important distinction. Collins made it very clear yesterday that what she did not want to have happen is for a vote to happen before the election or for Trump to lose and Republicans move forward with his nominee.

She basically said that what she wants to see is whoever wins the White House in November they're the ones that get to pick the next nominee for the Supreme Court.

Lisa Murkowski's statement does not go that far. Essentially what her statement is saying is laying out that she does not want to vote before the election but she's silent on the question of what happens in the lame duck. What happens, for example, if Trump loses but Republicans still move forward with a vote on SCOTUS?

So a very important distinction, something that is very critical to look very closely at.

WHITFIELD: Joan, Democrats are saying, you know, they're going to do whatever it takes to help slow or stop a confirmation, you know, from happening this year. Speaker Pelosi threatening another possible impeachment even, but really is there much Democrats can do?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: No, The math is very much on Mitch McConnell's side. So much is in his hands and, you know, he demonstrated this back in 2016 when he was able to hold all those Republicans together to block any, any meetings, hearings on Merrick Garland who was President Obama's nominee for the Scalia seat.

And one thing I want to emphasize about Mitch McConnell, other than being such a master of Senate procedure and counting votes and being able to hold his people together, judges is where he lives. He has been so much in the realm of making the judiciary a priority for his tenure so everything is coming together with a lot of will on his side and what's going to have to counter it if anything can counter it is public will, is people realizing that, you know, Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself had said she wanted the next president to fill her seat.

You have all these Democrats including Joe Biden talking about the stakes here and it's going to takes some public pressure that was not there in 2016.

In 2016, of course, there was a lot of hope that Hillary Clinton would win on the part of Democrats and progressives so they thought well, eventually Merrick Garland or some other Democratic appointee would get on the court. This time the stakes are so much more all or nothing and I cannot stress enough the transformation that we will see in the U.S. Supreme Court if Donald Trump's nominee is able to succeed liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

WHITFIELD: And John, the death of Ginsburg has now completely reshaped the focus of this president's reelection campaign. And his momentum and overall it has really impacted this race for the White House just 40-some days before people, you know, go to their polling stations or mail in their votes, whatever they do.

I mean is there a scale in which to, you know, measure how this has been impacted by the death of this justice?

HARWOOD: Well, it's certainly changed the focus, Fred, of the president's re-election campaign for the moment. The question is whether it changes the trajectory of this campaign.

We have seen a remarkably stable race during -- throughout 2020. Before the COVID pandemic, Joe Biden had a significant lead outside the margin of error, he still does. The COVID pandemic may have made it harder for him to come back, harder for him to make up that ground.

[14:09:53]

HARWOOD: And so now the question is, does the Supreme Court fight make it easier for him to make up that ground? Democrats are betting that the balance of energy from this fight will come from their side. Why? Because they're the ones who look to be losing this fight, who look to have their Affordable Care Act, the abortion rights -- things that they care deeply about and their constituents care deeply about -- those are under threat.

The conservatives have -- they have a majority now. If they in fact get this justice confirmed before or if it is poised to be done after the election in a lame duck they will have won. And the side that's winning usually is less motivated than the side that's losing and think that it has a lot at stake. So I think the burden is on events to prove that anything can change the remarkably stable race that we have had in 2020 but this is about as stiff a test as that trajectory will get.

WHITFIELD: And Lauren, what do we know about the extent to which McConnell, you know, is trying to gauge his caucus?

FOX: Well, essentially the question is really over timing at this point. And I think one thing to keep in mind is it's not just the presidential election that has been reshaped over the last 48 hours. You are talking about Senate races that looked one way and are looking very differently 48 hours later.

And what I'm thinking about is a race like in North Carolina. Tom Tillis, essentially someone we weren't sure where he was going to come down on the question of a Supreme Court nominee before or after the election. He made it very clear, he is ready to vote for the president's nominee whether that happens in two weeks or whether that happens in two months.

And I think what that's really all about, the underlying factor is this is a motivator for the president's base. This is a motivator for conservatives. It's a motivator for liberals, as well. But when you're talking about a presidential race, a Senate race that was about leadership and was about coronavirus, was about the stakes in this country over health care.

You are now talking about a race that is about turning out your base. And I think that that's very important when you're talking about not just a presidential election but also those down ballot senate races.

WHITFIELD: Lauren, Joan, John -- thanks to all of you. Appreciate it. Stick around.

At any moment, we do expect that the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will take to the stage in Philadelphia to give remarks on the U.S. Supreme Court seat left open by the death of Justice Ginsburg.

Our live team coverage continues right after this.

[14:12:27]

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WHITFIELD: Any moment now Democratic nominee Joe Biden expected to take to the stage in Philadelphia, his remarks come amid a political firestorm in Washington over who will replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Let's go to CNN's Jessica Dean in Philadelphia with a preview ahead of Biden's speech. So Jessica, you know, the president has been challenging Biden to release his own list of potential Supreme Court nominees but you reminded us last hour that Biden is not likely to do that. What is expected to happen today? JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Fred, we are told that Joe

Biden just arrived here on site the National Constitution Center. So we're expecting to hear from him very shortly.

And what we have been told by campaign aides is as he looks to frame this debate about the Supreme Court vacancy, that he's going to really hone in on protecting the Affordable Care Act and protecting preexisting conditions.

There is a lawsuit in the Supreme Court, working its way to the Supreme Court. They're expected to have oral arguments the week after Election Day. And we have heard Biden time and time again on the campaign trail attacking President Trump for trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, for trying to take away preexisting conditions for Americans across the country.

And we can expect to hear more of that and really frame this argument about the Supreme Court and how important that vacancy is around health care. If you go back to 2018 when Democrats took back control of the house, that was their messaging all across America.

It was health care, the Affordable Care Act, preexisting conditions and it was successful for them. The Biden campaign really thinking that will be a successful message once again.

On Friday, he did give remarks as soon as he landed back in Delaware from Minnesota on the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and he said at the time that he believes the American people should choose the next president and that that president should choose her replacement. So we expect to hear more about that.

And, of course, Fredricka, coronavirus and the response to the pandemic has been a central theme to the Biden campaign. He's gone after President Trump and his administration's response time and time and time again. We can also expect to hear more about that and how it all plays in to health care in America and protecting health care for Americans, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jessica Dean, thank you so much in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center. And of course, we'll take the Biden remarks as it happens. Things just still getting into place there. Thank you so much, Jessica.

All right. Next, the U.S. set to hit a grim milestone in all of this with 200,000 deaths from coronavirus soon approaching. This as cases in at least 30 states spike. Are we on the cusp of a second wave?

[14:19:17]

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WHITFIELD: The U.S. is nearing 200,000 coronavirus deaths. And right now more than a dozen states including Florida and Georgia are registering new daily records of coronavirus cases. And almost 30 states are seeing an uptick. And in Washington, D.C. later this afternoon the National Cathedral will chime 200 times in remembrance of the lives lost in this pandemic.

Evan McMorris Santoro is with me now from New York, Evan.

EVAN MCMORRIS SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, you and I have been talking about the pandemic for months now, since it really began. And what we're approaching now based on projections is a very dark milestone. 200,000 deaths in the official tally should come in the next day if the projections are true.

And to put that number in perspective, let's listen to what President Trump had to say about it back in March 29th, those early days when you and I were talking about this.

[14:24:42]

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we can hold that down, as we're saying to 100,000, it is a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000 -- so we have between 100,000 and 200,000 -- we altogether have done a very good job.

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MCMORRIS-SANTORO: So that 200,000 figure obviously shatters those expectations. But more than that, it just shows how much this pandemic has lasted and continues to stay around. Even here in New York City where I'm standing where the numbers have come way, way down we're still seeing huge disruptions to the economy and to education and, of course, all that horrible news of those deaths.

And right now, looking at those figures across the states and looking even in places like this there's really no end in sight to that news, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That's depressing. That's just the bottom line, it really is. Everybody needs some hope or some silver lining somewhere in that.

All right. Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you so much in New York.

All right. Let's go to Philadelphia now because the vice president, the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden now at the National Constitutional Center -- Constitution, rather, Center.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Welcome to the nation's Constitution Center. I had the great privilege of being a guest leader of this outfit for a year. It's an appropriate place to make this speech I'm about to make.

I attended a mass earlier today and prayed for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her family. The nation lost a heroine, an icon. They also lost a mother, a grandmother and a matriarch. We know how hard that is to watch a piece of your soul absorb the cruelty and the pain of the dreadful disease of cancer.

I spoke to her daughter and her granddaughter last night, expressing my whole family -- I mean, my whole family's sorrow, particularly my grown granddaughters, one of whom was a student of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's daughter at Columbia.

They made clear to me, daughter and granddaughter, that until the very end Justice Ginsburg displayed the character and courage we'd expect of her. They said she held their hands and gave them strength and purpose to carry on.

It's been noted that she passed away on Rosh Hashanah. By tradition, a person that dies in the Jewish New Year is considered a soul of great righteousness. That was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a righteous soul.

It was my great honor when I was in the Senate and chairman of the Judiciary Committee to preside over her confirmation hearings and strongly support her ascension to the Supreme Court bench.

Justice Ginsburg achieved a standing few justices have or ever will. She became a presence in the lives of so many Americans and a part of our culture. I agree with what others have said -- that she did as much to advance the constitutional rights, opportunities and justice for women as Justice Marshall did for African-Americans.

Yes, there was humor in mentions of the Notorious RBG and her impressive exercise routines but there was so much more. She was -- to use an overused word -- a trail blazer, a role model, a source of hope and a powerful voice for justice. She was proof, proof that courage and conviction and moral clarity can change not only the law but can change our culture, can change the world.

And I believe in the days and months and years ahead -- excuse me -- she will continue to inspire millions of Americans all across this country. And together we can and we will continue to be a voice for justice in her name.

Her granddaughter said yesterday and said publicly that her dying words were, quote, "My most fervent wish is that I not be replaced until a new president is installed."

As a nation, we should heed her final call to us, not as a personal service to her but as a service to the country, our country at a crossroads.

BIDEN: There's so much at stake -- the right to health care, clean air, clean water, the environment, equal pay for equal work, the rights of voters, immigrants, women, workers.

[14:30:04]

But right now, our country faces a choice, a choice about whether we will come back from the brink. That's what I'd like to talk with you about for a few minutes today.

Within an hour of news of her passing, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Trump's nominee to replace Justice Ginsburg will receive a vote in the Senate, within an hour of her passing, the exact opposite of what he said when President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to replace Justice Scalia in 2016.

At that time, Majority Leader McConnell made up a rule based on the fiction that I somehow believe there should be no nomination to the court in an election year. That's ridiculous. The only rule I have ever followed relating to the Supreme Court confirmation is the Constitution's obligation for senators to provide their advice and their consent to a president's judicial nominee.

But he created a new rule, the McConnell rule, absolutely no hearing, no vote for a nominee in an election year, period, no caveats. And many Republican senators agreed with him, including then chairman of the Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley of Iowa, including the current chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

And at the time said, and I'll quote verbatim, here's what he said, quote, I want you to use my words against me if there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say, Lindsey Graham said, let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make the nomination. Continue the quote, and you could use my words against me and you would be absolutely right, end of quote. That's a Republican said when Justice Scalia passed away, about nine months before Election Day that year.

Now, having lost Justice Ginsburg less than seven weeks before election this year, after Americans have begun to cast their vote, it is estimated up to 40 percent of Americans will have voted by October 1st but at least 30 percent, tens of millions. And you can't un-ring the bell. Having made this their standard, when it serves their interest, they cannot, just four years later, change course when it doesn't serve their ends.

Look, I'm not being naive. I'm not speaking to President Trump, who will do whatever he wants. I'm not speaking to Mitch McConnell who will do what he wants and he does. I'm speaking to those Republicans out there, Senate Republicans, who know deep down what is right for the country and consistent with the Constitution, as I stand here in the constitutional center, not just what's best for their party.

I'm speaking for millions of Americans out there who already have voted and continue to vote and will have many more voted by the time this process is finished. Millions of Americans who are voting because they know their health care hangs in the balance in the middle of a worst global health crisis in living memory.

Donald Trump is before the Supreme Court trying to strip health care coverage away from tens of millions of families and strip away the peace of mind of more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. If he succeeds, insurers can once again discriminate or drop coverage completely for people living with pre-existing conditions, like asthma, diabetes, cancer and so many other problems.

And perhaps most cruelly of all, if Donald Trump has its way, the complications of COVID-19, which are well beyond what they should be, it's estimated that 200 million people will die probably by the time I finish this talk.

[14:35:01]

The complication with COVID-19, like lung scarring and heart damage, could become the next denialable (ph) pre-existing condition for over 6 million Americans who have already contracted the disease.

Millions of Americans are also voting because they don't want nearly half a century of legal precedent to overturn and lose the right to choose -- millions of Americans who are at risk of losing their right to vote. Millions of DREAMers who are at risk of being expelled from the only country they have ever known, millions of workers, union workers who are at risk of losing their right to collectively bargain, millions of Americans who are demanding that their voices be heard that equal justice be a guarantee for all, not just some. They know we all know what should happen now. Voters of this country should be heard.

As I've said, voting has already begun. By the time we get to the middle of October, there will be millions and millions and millions who have already voted. And just a few weeks, all votes of this nation will be heard. They're the ones who the Constitution vision should decide who has the power to make this appointment.

This appointment isn't about the past. It's about the future and the people of this nation. And the people of this nation are choosing their future right now as they vote. To jam this nomination through the Senate is just an exercise in raw political power. And I don't believe the people of this nation will stand for it.

President Trump has already made it clear, this is about power, pure and simple, power. Whether the voters should make it clear on this issue, as so many others, the power in this nation resides with them, the American people, the voters. And even if President Trump wants to put forward a name now, the Senate should not act until after the American people select their next president, their next Congress, their next Senate.

If Donald Trump wins the election, then the Senate should move on his selection and weigh the nominee he chooses fairly. But if I win this election, President Trump's nominee should be withdrawn. And as the new president, I should be the one who nominates Justice Ginsburg's successor, a nominee with a fair hearing in the Senate before a confirmation hearing -- before a confirmation vote, I should say, after a confirmation hearing.

We are in the middle of a pandemic. Like I said, as I speak we are probably passing 200,000 deaths lost to this virus. Tens of millions of Americans are unemployed. Health care in this country hangs in the balance in the court. And now, in a raw political move, this president and the Republican leader have decided to jam a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court through the United States Senate. That's the last thing we need at this moment.

As I said, voters have already begun casting their votes, in the millions. And just a few weeks, we're going to know who the voters of this nation chosen as a next president. The United States Constitution was designed to give voters one chance, one chance to have their voice heard, and who serves on the court. And, by the way, there's no court session between now and the end of this election.

That moment is now for the voters to get a chance to be heard. And their voice should be heard. And I believe voters are going to make it clear, they'll not stand for this abuse of power, this constitutional abuse. There's no discussion about what happens if the Senate confirms on the eve of election or a lame-duck after Donald Trump loses. No successor to Justice Ginsburg, what happens?

But that discussion assumes that we lose this effort to prevent the grave wrong that Trump and McConnell are pursuing here.

[14:40:06]

I'm not going to assume failure at this point. I believe the voices of the American people should be heard and will be heard. This vote, this fight, this nomination will not be over until the Senate votes, if it does vote.

And winning that vote, if it happens, is everything, action and reaction, anger and more anger, sorrow and frustration at the way things are in this country now politically. That's the cycle that Republican senators will continue to perpetuate if they go down this dangerous path that they put us on. We need to de-escalate, not escalate.

That's why I appeal to those few Senate Republicans, the handful who really will decide what happens. Please follow your conscience. Don't vote to confirm anyone nominated under the circumstances President Trump and Senator McConnell have created. Don't go there. Uphold your constitutional duty, your conscience, let the people speak. Cool the flames that have been engulfing our country.

We can't keep rewriting history, scrambling norms, ignoring our cherished system of checks and balances. That includes this whole business of releasing a list of potential nominees that I would put forward and now saying after they -- after Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, they said Biden should release his list. It's no wonder they ask that I release the list only after she passed away. It is a game for them. It is a play to gin up emotions and anger.

There's a reason why no presidential candidate than President Trump has ever done such a thing. First, putting a judge's name on a list like that could influence that person's decision-making as a judge, and that would be wrong, at least create the perception of influence.

Second, anyone putting a list like that under these circumstances will be subject to unrelenting political attacks, because any nominee I would select will not get a hearing until 2021 at the earliest. She would endure those attacks for months on end without being able to defend herself.

And thirdly and finally, perhaps most importantly, if I win, I'll make my choice for the Supreme Court not based on a partisan election campaign but on what prior presidents have done, Republican and Democrats and I have served with many of them. Only after consulting Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate and seeking their advice and asking for their consent, it says advice and consent the Senate.

The president is the person who gets to name someone, propose. The Senate disposes. As everyone knows, I made it clear that my first choice for the Supreme Court will make history as the first African- American woman justice. But I'll consult with senators of both parties about that pick, as well as the legal and civil leaders in our country.

In the end, the choice will be mine and mine alone but I will consult. It will be the product of a process that restores our finest traditions, not the extension of one that's torn this country apart the last years.

So let me conclude with this. As I've said in this campaign, we're in the battle for the soul of this country. We face historic crises, once in a generation pandemic, a devastating economic recession, the rise of white supremacy that the FBI director has warned us against unseen since the '60s and a reckoning on race that's long overdue, the challenging climate, a changing climate that is ravaging our nation and the world as we speak.

The Supreme Court decisions will touch every part of these crises, every part of our lives and our future. And the last thing we need is to add a constitutional crisis that plunges us deeper into the abyss, deeper into the darkness.

[14:45:03]

If we go down this path, I predict it will cause irreversible damage. The infection this president has unleashed on our democracy can be fatal. Enough, enough, enough. We must come together as a nation, Democrats, Republicans, independents, liberals, conservative, everybody.

I'm not saying we have to agree on everything. We have to reason our way through what ails us as citizens, voters, public servants. That's the guidebook called the Constitution. We have to act in good faith and mutual goodwill in the spirit of conciliation, not confrontation.

This nation will continue to be inspired by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who we should not only be inspired by her but we should be guided by her, by her willingness to listen to those with whom she disagreed, to respect other points of view. Famously, Justice Ginsburg got along well with some of the most conservative justices on the court and she did without compromising her principles, clouding her moral clarity or losing her core principles.

If she can do this, so can we. How we talk to one another matters. How we treat one another matters. Respecting others matters. Justice Ginsburg proves it's important to have a spine of steel but also important to have an open hand, not a clinched fist, to those with whom we disagree.

This nation needs to come together. I've said it many times in this election. We are the United States of America. There's nothing we cannot overcome. There's nothing we cannot do if we do it together. Donald Trump seems to want to divide the nation between red states and blue states, between representing those states that vote for him and ignoring those who don't. I do not. I cannot. I will not be that president.

I'll be a president for the whole country, for those who vote for me and those who vote against me. We need to rise to this moment for the sake of the country we love so dearly. Indeed, for its very soul. May God bless the United States of America, may God protect our troops and may God bless Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: Former Vice President Democratic Nominee Joe Biden at the National Constitution Center there in Philadelphia, making remarks about the future that weighs on the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy, the future of health care as a consequence, he says, and he challenges voters on who should make this lifetime appointment, the sitting president or the winner of this election, just six weeks away. He says the voters should decide.

I want to bring in now CNN's Jessica Dean, who is outside that center there. Some pretty poignant, powerful remarks coming from the former vice president.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Fred, we really heard former Vice President Joe Biden calling out his former colleagues in the Senate, calling out Senate Republicans, speaking directly to them and name-checking some of the people, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, but really calling out to Senate Republicans who he believes might be willing to delay nominating a new Supreme Court justice until after the election, more moderate Republicans.

We already know that some have spoken out and said that they're willing to do so. But he really called on this and frames it again, as we've heard him do over and over again, about a battle for the soul of the nation, that this is a moral and constitutional question that as Americans and as followers of the Constitution that this is how it should be, that the next president, whomever that is, either President Trump or Joe Biden, should be selecting the justice.

He called it just raw power for President Trump and Republicans to try to, in his words, jam this through when people are already voting.

[14:50:00]

He said you cannot unring that bell, that voting is already under way. And if they went with this rule in 2016, when there was much more time between when Justice Scalia died and when the election was held, that they should -- that Senate Republicans should abide by that rule once again, especially considering that voting has started. We also heard, as you mentioned, they talked about some of the issues that are under consideration here, including health care, the Affordable Care Act. We know, campaigns aides saying, that in the weeks, in these coming days, we're going to hear him talking more about healthcare, about pre-existing conditions, about protecting the Affordable Care Act, which is now part of a lawsuit in front of the Supreme Court and how that could affect millions of Americans.

We also learned from Joe Biden today that he has spoken with Ruth Bader Ginsburg's family. He talked about her character, what she means to this country, what she did for women and also noted that her dying wish was that her replacement be named by the next president after the election. Joe Biden saying, he very much agrees with that.

But, again, Fred, him drawing it back to a battle for the soul of the nation, he started his campaign with this. This is something the framing that we have heard over and over again. Joe Biden saying that the United States needs to be following the Constitution and uniting together, not being divided. He sees President Trump as a divisive president. Joe Biden saying that he wants to be president, not just for blue states but for red states, blue states and all of Americans, so quite the contrast there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and directly going after his opponent, President Trump, saying this infection that he blames on Trump, he says, released on this democracy, enough, that from the former vice president.

All right, Jessica Dean, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

All right, straight ahead, two Republican senators appearing to side with Democrats as the vacant Supreme Court seat now raises questions about the 2020 election.

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WHITFIELD: With just over 40 days until the election, the race has been jolted by the death of the U.S. Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. If Republicans are able to successfully approve a replacement, conservatives could have at least a 6-3 majority for decades to come, which, just in terms of immediate fallout, would likely deal a fatal blow to the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, stripping millions of health care and erasing protections for pre- existing conditions, and voters care about health care.

In the most recent national poll taken within the last week, health care was tied with the coronavirus as the second most important issue when deciding who to vote for.

Joining me right now, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. Good to see you, Phil.

And before we get to the politics, I want do get your reaction to Ginsburg's death, because you were fortunate enough to have clerked for her. You knew her personally. What has this been like for you in the last 48 hours?

PHIL WEISER (D), COLORADO ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's been gut-wrenching on multiple levels. She was deeply meaningful to me and to my family. She took a real interest in my kids, in my career. I wouldn't be here without her guidance, her inspiration. And this leaves a hole, a hole in my heart, it's a hole on the Supreme Court.

And for those who knew her, we have to ask ourselves how can we carry on with her legacy, her commitment to equality, to justice, it was extraordinary. And what she accomplished places her among the all-time greats. And so I'm just so privileged to have had that relationship with her and I'm still very much in mourning. And the fact it happened on the Jewish New Year has even more poignancy to her passing.

WHITFIELD: And I was just about to ask you that, because you heard the vice president -- the former vice president just moments ago where he says how notable it was that she would pass away on Rosh Hashanah and based on the facts that he has come up with, you know, it is considered that when that happens, that person represents a real soul of great righteousness.

WEISER: It's true. And there's -- a way to think about it, in the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah services, we ask God, can you please merit us one more year of life. And so last year, I can imagine the conversation, as it were, where God says, okay, you have merited one more year, I'll give you as much as I can but your time is coming up.

And what is interesting about this is Justice Ginsburg was deeply connected to her Judaism but she wasn't an observant person. When I was clerking for her, that was the first time that Yom Kippur was going to be a Supreme Court argument day. And she had to decide whether to sit on Yom Kippur. And I had the privilege of talking to her about this.

And we were reflecting on Sandy Koufax, who was another notable, publicly well-respected Jewish individual, who decided not to play on Yom Kippur even though, for Sandy Koufax, that wasn't necessarily a day he observed religiously. Similarly for Justice Ginsburg, she wasn't religiously observant but she was deeply moved and proud of her Jewish heritage.

WHITFIELD: So, now, let me ask you the politics that we must delve into now, and Colorado is kind of leaning Democratic, right? How has Justice Ginsburg's death, in your way, changed any of the races in your state?

WEISER: First and foremost, this is catalyzing people to action. I've heard this now over and over. People who had been complacent, feeling, well, justice Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, I can rest easy, has been jolted into action. And it's something that would make her smile because she believed in active civic engagement. She believes that the court really depended on the public's understanding of equality and justice.

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So, for people to be engaged and catalyzed is, again, part of how her memory will be a blessing.