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Trump Set To Name Supreme Court Pick As He Sows Election Fears; Sources: Barrett's Confirmation Hearing To Begin Week Of October 12; At Least 22 Arrests In Louisville Protests; Wisconsin Voters Weigh Backing Biden After Voting For Trump In 2016; Trump Frustrated With CDC Director As Sober Warnings Contradict Trump's Rosy Message; Trump To Announce Supreme Court Nominee. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired September 26, 2020 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:05]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The breaking news, just you an hour away now from President Trump announcing his Supreme Court nominee.
Now, as for who that person is, multiple senior Republican sources are pointing with confidence at Federal Appeals Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett. She was reportedly the only potential nominee to meet personally with the president in the days following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
And just a couple of hours ago, Judge Barrett and her family left their home in Indiana, you see them there, reporters asked her if they were on their way to Washington or whether the president had called her today. No answer.
We have learned that a likely schedule now for her confirmation hearing is being circulated to members of the Senate, and it lists the proceedings beginning October 12. That puts things on track for a Senate vote shortly before Election Day.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is at the White House.
Jeremy, you are right by the Rose Garden, and you have some reporting about why this event is decorated the way it is.
Explain.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Ana. Well, about an hour from now, we expect President Trump to nominate his next Supreme Court justice. We expect him to nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett who would be replacing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
And in a nod to that confirmation from 1993, the look here is actually very, very similar. A White House aide telling our colleague Jeff Zeleny that that is actually intentional, this distinctive look where you can see the American flags draped alongside the colonnade here, where the president is expected to walk out and announce his nomination to the Supreme Court. That is similar to the look of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's nomination in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.
Now, of course, this will be a momentous occasion for the president and one that I expect he will be savoring as he comes out here to nominate not his first, not his second, but his third nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, something that very few presidents have actually had the privilege of doing. It's certainly something that President Trump has repeatedly emphasized would be an important part of his legacy.
And they are trying to push this through at record pace in order to get this nomination through before the November election. Let me read you part of the schedule that is actually circulating. We expect Amy Coney Barrett to actually begin making the rounds if she is indeed nominated today as we expect her to be, to make the rounds on Capitol Hill next week.
And then you will have a very quick schedule. Within two weeks, we expect the first hearing to take place on October 12th, another hearing, the first round of questioning on October 13th, the second round of questioning on October 14th. And all of this is intended, once again, to push that nomination through before election day.
That is the clear and stated goal that the president has, that Republicans in the Senate have, as they want to tell you that the president who is elected in November should be the person who pick this next Supreme Court nominee to fill the seat vacated by the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And there is no question that this would be at a record pace, much faster than most Supreme Court nominees.
Typically those confirmation processes take two to three months. This would be pushed through in just over one month -- Ana.
CABRERA: And you're right, it's about 60 percent of Americans who would like to see whoever's elected in November make this nomination.
Jeremy Diamond, thank you.
We will, of course, be back there and take the event live it happens.
But let's be clear. What's happening with the Supreme Court is just one piece of a puzzle that's slowly coming together. The full picture we won't see for 38 days, perhaps beyond that, but we have the edges and they tell us a lot about a president determined to stay in power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Will you commit to making sure there is a peaceful transferal of power of the election?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to have to see what happens, you know that. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster. Get rid of the ballots and we'll have a very peaceful -- there won't be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: If you are shocked by that comment, then you haven't been listening because he has spent a long time laying the groundwork.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MODERATOR: Do you make the same commitment, that you will absolutely -- sir, that you will absolutely accept the result of this election.
TRUMP: I'll look at it at the time. I'm not looking at anything now. I'll look at it at the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Step one, attack the integrity of the election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged. Remember that.
It will end up being a rigged election.
The Democrats are trying to rig this election, because it's the only way they're going to win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:05:02]
CABRERA: Step two, get your supporters to believe it and spread the message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Do you think that if we get to election night or in the following days if Biden winds up somehow becoming the winner, do you think it's rigged?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh yes, very much so.
REPORTER: What are the chances, do you think, that this election might be rigged?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tell you, with the mail-in ballots we don't like, there's a lot of cheating that's been exposed especially over the last four or five years. See, our president brought this to our attention. See, this stuff was going on that nobody really knew about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: There is absolutely no evidence, but they believe it because the president says it.
Step three, file lawsuits in battleground states and attack reforms that would make it easier to cast a ballot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Te things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it, you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: You heard it right there, the president admitting on tape he thinks expanded access to voting hurts Republicans. So once again, he attacks mail-in ballots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, we have to be very careful with the ballots. The ballots, that's a whole big scam. We want to make sure the election is honest, and I'm not sure that it can be. I don't -- I don't know that it can be with this whole situation. Unsolicited ballots, they're unsolicited, millions being sent to everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: As Barton Gellman of "The Atlantic" notes, Trump's systemic predictions of fraud appear to have had a powerful effect on Republican voting intentions. In the battleground states of Pennsylvania and North Carolina, hundreds of thousands, more Democrats than Republicans, have requested mail-in ballots. That would suggest more Trump supporters would opt to go to the polls in person. But what about the pandemic, you may ask?
That plays into step four. Time and time again Trump has held rallies applauding his supporters for gathering en masse, some even booing at the idea of wearing a mask.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GOV. JON HUSTED (R), OHIO: If you go into a the grocery store where you've got to wear one -- hang on, hang on, just listen up. Just listen up.
(BOOS)
All right. I get it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Now, let's put this together into the nightmare scenario for Democrats. Trump's supporters aren't worried about getting sick go to the polls on Election Day. Then on election night, the early results show Trump ahead until the mail-in votes are all voted. And with his lead evaporating, the president claims it's a rigged election.
And that brings us to step five, the Supreme Court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I think it's very important that we have nine justices. I think it's better if you go before the election, because I think this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it's a scam, the scam will be before the United States Supreme Court. And I think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: A president rushing through a Supreme Court pick because he's banking on a contested election, decided by a court stacked 6-3 in his favor. Again, we cannot predict how the next 38 days will play out, how this puzzle will finally look after the election.
But as one writer for "The Atlantic" predicted, the 20th Amendment is crystal clear that the president's term in office shall end at noon on January 20th. But two men could show up to be sworn in.
Joining us now, CNN political commentator and author of the book, "Gaslighting America", Amanda Carpenter, and CNN political commentator and author of this book, "My Vanishing Country: A Memoir", Bakari Sellers.
Amanda, you heard what I just laid out there. Is this why President Trump is trying to rush through this nominee, because this is how he thinks he's going to guarantee a victory?
AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I mean, he's openly said so. I think the. Are Republicans have been pretty brazen about this fact. When I listen to a lot of smart Democrats, they come on and say we need to make these confirmation hearings about health care or Roe v. Wade.
I think that ignores the giant elephant in the room. This is about the election. Donald Trump is going to roll her out next hour and Republicans are going to jam this on the shortest timetable probably in Supreme Court history to get it done before the election because a 5-4 court isn't secure enough. They want it to be more stacked in their favor.
So I don't know why anyone wouldn't just lean into this. Any Republican lawyer worth her law degree has certainly studied cases like Bush v. Gore. In fact, I believe she worked on that for a brief time as an associate. And we should talk about this.
Our elections -- everyone believes that Americans have the right to vote, but what it really comes down to is how those votes are counted. This is what election law is about. I think she should be prodded for what her legal philosophy is about that issue because right now, it really is the most important thing.
[16:10:05]
CABRERA: So, Bakari, you're a lawyer as well.
Senate Democrats say they are going to push Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from any matter involving Trump and the election. Make your case to conservatives as to why this would be in their best interest.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's a funny argument to make, because it would actually play on the fact that they were putting, you know, America over partisanship. It would ask for them to actually delve into the ethics of a matter. It would ask for them to feed into their moral compass.
I'm not sure that's going to be a successful play. I think that deal, one of the things that the president of the United States, because he's already been burned by one individual he's appointed who recused himself and that's been Jeff Sessions from the Russia investigation. I think he learned that lesson and he will not do that again. So, I'm absolutely certain he's having those discussions right now with his future or his soon-to-be Supreme Court nominee, that she will not be recusing herself.
I think Democrats just have to, you know, while we were focused on -- will he leave the White House if we -- if this or that happens, Democrats need to focus on the next 38, 39 days to actually win a race before we ask a question about what's going to happen on the Supreme Court or what's going to happen after the election. Democrats need to stop bedwetting and focus on winning and getting the most votes.
CABRERA: Amanda, I was looking at what your former boss, Ted Cruz, tweeted about this idea of asking, you know, the nominee to recuse herself from an election dispute. And he said this is an astonishingly dumb idea, one of the biggest reasons we confirm the nominee before Election Day is to ensure a full nine justice majority to resolve any inevitable election disputes. Dems desperately, desperately don't want that.
But I just wonder, would there be a conflict of interest if she becomes the deciding vote should the election results go to the Supreme Court?
CARPENTER: It's going to go to the Supreme Court. I hate to say it doesn't matter, but she has the votes, right? So, I think this whole idea about recusal should be brought up because I am interested to see how she handles this question. But it's sort of irrelevant.
I think they are trying to go for a gotcha moment, but it would be better to probe her on the substantive issues of how an election should be decided. She can't get away with saying, well, I might rule about that in a future matter, because there's so much case law about it. She needs to have a philosophy about it, she should be asked about that. She should be asked, did the president ask you for loyalty in those private meetings?
She can choose to answer or she can choose not to answer, because what's really interesting when I talk to people who do focus groups with Republican-leaning women in states like Pennsylvania, they're uneasy about this process. And for the next month, Amy Coney Barrett is going to be the most important person on the presidential ticket. It's almost like she's running -- you know, Trump-Barrett for the next 30 days. And I don't know how she's going to perform in that higher act. I
mean, she better come ready, because these questions are important and it will have an effect on the election.
CABRERA: There are more and more questions about what's going to happen after November 3rd. Republicans are promising a peaceful transition of power. The Senate even passed a unanimous resolution reaffirming a peaceful transition.
I want to play White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on this. And I want you to listen to his words carefully.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Hopefully, we'll be able to make sure that this election goes off like every other election and that the winner on November 3rd will certainly be the new president sworn in on January 20th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: The winner on November 3rd, Bakari. We are already being warned that we likely won't know the winner on November 3rd because of the large number of people expected to mail in their ballots because of the pandemic.
Does his wording around that stick out to you?
SELLER: It does. And, you know, we saw Donald Trump Jr. even in a very weirdly slurred video that he sometimes does late at night talk about, you know, the fact that this is their play.
But we should all know this is not an election day. This is an election week or weeks because of the simple fact that people are going to vote, a lot of people are going to vote with mail-in ballots. Certain states begin to count those ballots prior to the election, others wait until election day to count those ballots. So, that means that you're going to have a longer vote tally.
You know, the troublesome part is that it's a weird conundrum that the Republican Party finds itself in. I mean, they just -- they have just trampled on the Constitution. They don't believe in democracy. They don't believe in norms. They're being cowards when it comes to Mark Meadows, who once was Elijah Cummings' best friend and now is a shell of himself in terms of recognizing what he stands for.
Do people have fear?
[16:15:00]
Yes. But, you know, I'm someone who's still -- I'm only 36 years old. I still believe in the fundamental tenets of this country and I believe that every vote should count and this is going to play out, and you can't rig a Supreme Court. And may I'll be wrong, but I still believe that whoever wins this election is going to be just and fair, not just right wing, cooked up, you know, machinations that we watch on "Naked Gun" or "Police Academy" to try to win an election.
(CROSSTALK)
CABRERA: Quickly if you will, Amanda, what if -- what if the president refuses to leave? He's already signaled that he doesn't see a legitimate election result in which he's not the winner. What would Republicans do?
CARPENTER: So, hypotheticals are hard because they make people get panicky. I think there are a lot of checks in place before we get to that very extreme place. But in terms of the Supreme Court fight, the Democrats are -- the Republicans are going to get their nominee, and the most important argument that the Democrats would make electorally is that they need a Democratic president, and Democrat Senate to act as a check on Donald Trump's court.
And I'm worried about top Republican leaders drawing that November 3rd deadline. Mitch McConnell did the same thing.
But what's funny is that I remember a lot of people went to bed on election night 2016 thinking Hillary Clinton had won and they woke up and found that Donald Trump was president.
CABRERA: OK. Amanda Carpenter, Bakari Sellers, thank you both for being here. And we'll continue the conversation as the weeks unfold. Thank you.
SELLERS: Thank you.
CABRERA: Protests are still underway after a grand jury failed to indict Louisville police officers for shooting and killing Breonna Taylor while inside her own home. The Taylor's family may have another chance at justice. We'll explain next.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:21:48]
CABRERA: Welcome back.
Twenty-two people were arrested in connection to Louisville protests last night. It marked the third night of demonstrations since the Kentucky attorney general announced Wednesday that no officers are being charged directly in the killing of Breonna Taylor.
But the attorney for Taylor's family is not giving up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LONITA BAKER, ATTORNEY, BREONNA TAYLOR & FAMILY: I do want to say one more thing to Daniel Cameron. If you, in fact, did not say Breonna Taylor's name to the grand jury, if in fact you did not present any charges on behalf of Breonna Taylor to the grand jury, we demand that you appoint a special prosecutor to present charges on behalf of Breonna Taylor to a grand jury, because it's not too late. We still demand full justice for Breonna Taylor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz is joining us now.
Shimon, where does the case go from here?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and that is the thing that the family wants and what they want to know exactly what did the attorney general present to the grand jury. It's a secret proceeding, so the attorney general right now is saying that he can't release any information.
There is an opportunity that at some point, this information will come out through lawsuits and whether it's reporters who will file lawsuits, the family may seek to file lawsuits to try and get that information, because the key question for many of the activists who are out here protesting what the attorney general did and who have been out here for weeks is exactly what did he present to the grand jury, and if anything that he presented to the grand jury involved Breonna Taylor.
The attorney general himself when he had that press conference said the officers were justified in firing. And so, therefore, there is the chance that he didn't even present any evidence to the grand jury concerning the death of Breonna Taylor.
The other part of this, and the next phase of this is there's still the Department of Justice, the FBI investigation into the civil rights violations of Breonna Taylor. That investigation is still ongoing. Then the one officer who was indicted, of course, for those wanton endangerment charges, that has to do with the firing of shots into Breonna Taylor's neighbors' apartment. He's due in court on Monday, so perhaps we'll get more information then.
But for now, as you said, Ana, the protests continue. As you see, they are still gathering behind me.
CABRERA: OK, Shimon Prokupecz, let's hope for a very peaceful night, thank you.
Coming up, we take you to the crucial battleground state of Wisconsin, where it's still anyone's race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: If you can't vote for Joe Biden, can I assume that you'll vote for President Trump?
DEB THOMSON, UNDECIDED WISCONSIN VOTER: I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:28:57]
CABRERA: Today, a state that President Trump won by less than a percentage point in 2016 is in play again.
But as CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports, Wisconsin voters turned off by President Trump aren't necessarily sold on Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THOMSON: The office used to have a lot of dignity and that's something that's missing.
ZELENY (voice-over): Deb Thomson is talking about the Oval Office and President Trump's conduct she often finds troubling.
Yet, as a Catholic, she says she cannot back Joe Biden because he supports abortion rights.
(on camera): So, if you can't vote for Joe Biden, can I assume that you'll vote for President Trump?
THOMSON: I don't know, because part of me, I'm afraid to have him in office for four more years.
ZELENY (voice-over): Signs of the fall election season are everywhere here in battleground Wisconsin. So too are sound of Trump exhaustion.
CAROLINE QUINLAN, UNDECIDED WISCONSIN VOTER: I have to say I get it, I get it why people don't like Trump. But at the same time, he has done a few things I thought were important.
[16:30:00]
ZELENY: It's one of the biggest challenges facing Biden, capitalizing on voters' nagging uncertainty about Trump by persuading those with doubts to go Democratic.
VAL DINGMAN, UNDECIDED WISCONSIN VOTER: I will vote, yes. For who, I don't know yet.
ZELENY: Val Dingman does not like the president's handling of coronavirus, or how he conducted himself during a summer of racial unrest. But she's far from sold on Biden.
Four years ago, she supported a third-party candidate, which she hopes not to do again.
DINGMAN: My vote for third party went to Trump, unfortunately. So I -- I guess, learned my lesson.
ZELENY: Her indecision raises questions about an enthusiasm gap, which worries Biden supporters, like Mary and Jerry Karthauser.
MARY KARTHAUSER, WISCONSIN BIDEN SUPPORTER: I hope there's not too many that are in that camp that can't realize that there's a lot of issues here at play. JERRY KARTHAUSER, WISCONSIN BIDEN SUPPORTER: I sure as heck don't want
to see Trump for the next four years.
ZELENY: The president narrowly won Wisconsin in 2016. His path to reelection will be determined to a large degree by his strength in these suburban Republican strongholds around Milwaukee.
PAUL DEMCZAK, WISCONSIN TRUMP SUPPORTER: Sometimes, he's a little bit direct
(CROSSTALK)
DEMCZAK: -- blunt --
(CROSSTALK)
DEMCZAK: -- we could say. But, at the same time, you don't have to wonder if he's trying to hide anything. You know you're getting the straight answer from him.
ZELENY: Paul and Denisa (ph) Demczak wave their Trump flag proudly but notice plenty of Biden signs nearby.
SALLY NORDSTROM, WISCONSIN BIDEN SUPPORTER: And I'm talking to everybody I can. And I'm annoying my neighbors by putting out these signs, because there's Trump/Pence signs all over my neighborhood.
ZELENY: With absentee voting already under way, the president's threat about not accepting the results of the election --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want to make sure the election is honest. And I'm not sure that it can be.
ZELENY: -- reverberated with controversy here.
Peter Akiti, an independent who plans to vote for Biden, said Trump supporters should take note.
PETER AKITI, WISCONSIN BIDEN SUPPORTER: This is kind of like a monarchy, a dictatorship. Like, America is a republic. We vote. We don't have dictatorships. You don't have queen or kings. People vote.
ZELENY: Drew Pathas (ph), who backed Trump four years ago, said he disagreed with the president's comments.
DREW PATHAS (ph), UNDECIDED WISCONSIN VOTER: That wording shouldn't be used. That was inappropriate.
ZELENY: But said it is just being Trump being Trump, which his supporters love.
PATHAS (ph): I have to look at the whole body of work, you know, and all that he has done and all that he has said.
ZELENY (on camera): So the Biden campaign is under no illusions they can win these Republican strongholds but they do believe they can close the gap.
That gap contributed to President Trump carrying the state by some 23,000 votes four years ago. That's just one percentage point of the total in this state.
No question, both campaigns very much engaged here, spending millions of dollars in television advertising.
There's no question President Trump needs these 10 electoral votes for his reelection strategy.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Out thanks to Jeff for that reporting.
And stay tuned. The most-anticipated moment of the election is here. Donald Trump and Joe Biden face off in their first presidential event. Watch it all play out live here on CNN with special coverage Tuesday night, starting at 7:00 Eastern.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:37:16]
CABRERA: There are now more than seven million coronavirus cases in the U.S. and more than 200,000 U.S. deaths with the daily number of new cases climbing yet again with 50,000 new cases just yesterday alone.
And now sources tell CNN President Trump is losing patience with the head of the CDC. The president is frustrated, we are told, that CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, and other health experts, are contradicting his rosy messaging on the virus and that breakthroughs are not coming fast enough.
That has led some to question whether Redfield may soon be on his way out.
And I want to bring in CNN medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, former Bush White House medical adviser and current professor of medicine at George Washington University.
Dr. Reiner, what is your reaction to this new reporting?
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I think the CDC director should consider resigning. He's been undercut over and over and over again by the White House.
If you'll remember, in April, when he warned the country that there could be a duel threat of a second wave of the virus and influenza, he was brought back basically on a perp walk the next day to recant.
In July, the president criticized the CDC's guidelines for opening schools as being very tough and expensive.
At the beginning of September, the CDC was forced to walk back their statements about aerosols.
And very recently, the president said that the CDC director was confused when he said that masks might be as effective as a vaccine and that the general public might not have a vaccine until the second or third quarter.
So at some point, the CDC director has to decide what is more important, to stay and continue to be marginalized or to come out and tell the public the truth.
I want him to come out and tell the public the truth.
CABRERA: But you don't believe he's doing it now, which is why you're saying he should resign.
If he resigns, though, what does that solve? I mean, is the president just going to put somebody in place that is going to do what he says he wants them to do?
REINER: Look, this election is not just about the presidency. It is also about the pandemic. And what the public is doing now is we are reelecting or electing, for the first time, a pandemic response team.
The president has propagated a myth that we're turning the corner. We're not. We're seeing resurgence of vaccine all over the country.
Yesterday, they were 51,000 cases of the virus in the United States for the first time in many weeks. So the virus is on the descendancy. The president wants the public to think that it is going away.
We need a team -- we need a team that is going to be competent and enact measures to eradicate this virus.
[16:40:04]
I want the CDC director to tell the public why he's been marginalized and why the current team is not up to the task.
CABRERA: Sources also tell CNN, Doctor, that Dr. Birx is distressed with the direction of the task force and she views the addition of Dr. Scott Atlas as an unhealthy influence on the president.
Meantime, you have the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, calling out misinformation left and right.
What would happen if they just throw up their hands in frustration? Who, then, is left to tell the American public what is safe and what's dangerous during this pandemic?
REINER: Right. You do hear Tony Fauci telling the truth, which is why you never see him at the White House now.
Many of us have spoken for while about the need for a s-called shadow task force, a task force of independent people not aligned with this administration or any campaign to disseminate information to the public.
People like my old friend, Peter Hotez, people like former FDA Commissions Gottlieb and Califf. People who can interpret data for the public in a nonpartisan, nonpolitical way. That is what we need now.
And if the White House was open, they would facilitate that. They would bring in an outside group of advisers to inform the public.
But they feel -- this White House feels that science is a threat to them, that it gets in the way of the messaging.
But that's what we need. We need an independent shadow task force to tell the public the truth.
CABRERA: The president has another rally tonight. We've seen all week long at his rallies people not social distancing and huge, huge crowds.
At what point would we be able to tell whether those actually are super spreader events?
REINER: About two weeks after these events. But it might be hard to tell because virus is on the rise in large parts of the country.
But about two weeks after an event like that, you can start to get some hints for whether infections have arisen from these nonsocial distanced, mostly non-masked events.
It will happen. It is happening.
CABRERA: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you. Thank you, as always.
REINER: My pleasure, Ana.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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(SINGING)
ANNOUNCER: Follow along with those walking the walk.
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ANNOUNCER: -- and inspiring others.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a door opening for a new life.
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ANNOUNCER: CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE, CNN, tonight at 10:00.
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(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:48:11]
CABRERA: An Ohio woman refusing to wear a mask was tased and arrested for not leaving her son's middle school football game.
Police say a school resource officer asked the woman to wear a mask and she refused, saying she had asthma.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're arresting me for nothing. I'm not doing nothing wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is illegal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is over a mask, really?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.
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CABRERA: Police told the woman if she refused to leave, she would be cited for trespassing and escorted off the property.
Ohio's governor, Mike DeWine, adding that this woman was told that if she had asthma, she could get a face shield and come back to the game.
The FDA this week issuing a warning over serious problems with high doses of the allergy medication Benadryl.
The agency citing reports of teenagers ending up in hospital emergency rooms, some even dying after participating in the so-called Benadryl challenge on the social media platform, TikTok.
FDA officials say they have strongly urged TikTok to remove videos of the Benadryl challenge and to be on the lookout for any new related posts.
Just minutes from now, President Trump announce his Supreme Court nomination replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a favorite of liberals, with Amy Coney Barrett, a judge praised by conservatives.
What does it mean for the balance of power? Could we see even more seats on the Supreme Court in the future? "CROSS EXAM" with Elie Honig is next.
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You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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CABRERA: We're back with live images right now from the Rose Garden where, any moment now, President Trump is expected to announce his nominee to be the next Supreme Court justice.
Sources tell us it is Amy Coney Barrett, a favorite among conservatives, who, if confirmed, would fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
A source telling CNN Barrett, a former law clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was the only candidate formerly interviewed by the president.
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And that brings us to "CROSS EXAM" with CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Elie Honig.
And of course, we'll continue to watch these images. We'll be taking this announcement life, Elie.
In the meantime, one viewer asks: If the Senate confirms President Trump's nominee to fill Justice Ginsburg's seat, what is the long-term outlook for the Supreme Court's ideological balance?
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Ana, we are about to see a major shift in the ideological balance of the Supreme Court.
Now, last term, we had five established conservative justices and four reliably liberal justices, including, of course, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
But now Justice Ginsburg's seat is about to be filled by Amy Coney Barrett, who has a staunch conservative record.
And that matters so much because, last term, we saw Chief Justice Roberts emerged as this unpredictable swing vote.
He crossed over and joined with the liberal bloc on key rulings on LGBTQ rights, immigration, Trump's tax returns.
But now, even if Chief Justice Roberts does that, it's still not enough. The liberals still will need one more vote.
And keep in mind, under our Constitution, justices serve life terms. And if you look at the demographics, the oldest justice right now, Justice Breyer, 82 years old, he is one of the three liberal justices.
And the three youngest justices will be all conservatives, Gorsuch, Kavanagh and soon Barrett. They're all between 48 and 55 years old.
So we're looking at a fundamental changed and changing Supreme Court.
CABRERA: And 6-3. Has the Supreme Court ever been this lopsided before?
HONIG: Well, this is the most lopsided in 50 years, since the 1960s when there was actually a strong liberal tilt then. Richard Nixon became president and he got four nominations and that evened it out and then some.
But this will be the most lopsided it's been since before you and I were born.
CABRERA: Some Democrats, outraged over the president's decision to move ahead with the Supreme Court nomination before the election have now cited this idea of adding seats to the Supreme Court should they end up shifting the balance of power in the Senate and should Joe Biden win the presidency.
One viewer asks: Can the size of the Supreme Court being expanded? And how would that work legally?
HONIG: Yes, but it's not easy. The Constitution actually doesn't set any specific number of Supreme Court justices. We've gotten used to the number of nine, but it does not have to be nine.
The numbers are actually determined by Congress through legislation. It has changed several times in our history. It's been as low as five and as high as 10. But that number has been set at nine since 1869.
So the number can be changed. It would require new legislation. Realistically, that means Democrats need to win the House, the Senate, and the White House. But if they do that, yes, this will be an option on the table.
CABRERA: And here is when this Supreme Court pick will really matter, in November. The Supreme Court expected to hear arguments over the future of the Affordable Care Act.
And one viewer wants to know: How likely is it that the Supreme Court will rule the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional?
HONIG: This really could happen, Ana. This is the biggest case on the docket for the upcoming term. Augusts are set for November 10th, the week after the election.
In 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the ACA by a close 5-4 vote. That was one of those where Chief Justice Roberts joined the liberal bloc.
But now, again, if Roberts joins the liberals, it will not be enough. And Amy Coney Barrett has written critically of that 2012 decision.
Now if Amy Coney Barrett, if by some chance, is not confirmed by November 10th, then only eight justices will decide.
If it ends up 4-4, then it goes back to the lower court. The fifth Circuit ruling, which struck down key provisions of the ACA.
Ana, this decision will impact millions of Americans. And I have to say, sometimes as a lawyer these Supreme Court decisions start to feel just like words on paper, theoretical.
But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg understood these decisions have real impact on real people. And is something I always try to remember as a lawyer. And I think it's an important part of Justice Ginsburg's legacy.
CABRERA: And so our viewers need to have this in mind as we watch this historic moment. The president's announcement of his next nominee expected in just a few moments here.
Elie Honig, as always, thank you so much for your expertise.
And I'll sign off for now. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. I want to hand things over to Wolf Blitzer for special coverage of the announce of the President Trump's announcement of his Supreme Court pick.
I'll see you back here at 8:00 Eastern.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.
A truly historic day in the White House Rose Garden. This hour, President Trump will announce his pick for the United States Supreme Court.
It is all but certain the nominee will be Amy Coney Barrett. She is a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Seventh Circuit and a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.
Barrett is just 48 years old. If she's confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she would be the youngest justice on court.
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