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Violent Seattle Protests; Confirmation Hearing For Judge Barrett October 12; White House Event Goes Maskless; Biden And Trump Debate Tuesday; Climate Change Fueling Blazes Around The World; Coal Mining Ingrained In Polish Town. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired September 27, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The U.S. president makes his pick for the nation's highest court. Now it's on to the Senate for Amy Coney Barrett, where a partisan battle over her confirmation looms.
A city on edge, police respond en masse as dueling protesters hit the streets in Portland, Oregon.
And as coronavirus cases once again tick up in the U.K., thousands turnout to protest. New anti lockdown measures.
Live from headquarters in Atlanta, hello everyone I'm Natalie Allen and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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ALLEN: And thank you so much for joining. Us.
Our top story here, Senate Republicans are making good on their word to fast-track a Supreme Court nominee. The confirmation hearing will begin October 12th now for Amy Coney Barrett.
President Trump formally nominated Barrett on Saturday to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Republicans say Barrett is impressive and well qualified, while Democrats say a justice Barrett would hurt almost every American.
Barrett is a federal appeals court judge and a favorite among conservatives. Mr. Trump's signaled she would be fair on the bench.
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TRUMP: Amy Coney Barrett will decide cases based on the text of the Constitution as written. As Amy has said, being a judge takes courage. You are not there to decide cases as you may prefer; you are there to do your duty and to follow the law, whatever it may take you.
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ALLEN: Barrett will join the court as it prepares to take on issues that could affect the lives of Americans for generations to come. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more on this high stakes pick.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump on Saturday officially nominating judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. This is his third nomination. And the first woman that the president has nominated to put on the bench.
The president certainly relishing this moment. After, all the president has talked about how appointing justices to the Supreme Court is one of the most important things that he does as president. He certainly views this as a critical part of his legacy.
It is one of the reasons why so many conservatives, including those who are perhaps turned off by his brash political style, ultimately flock to his campaign and have supported him through his four years in the White House.
The president is really remaking the balance of the Supreme Court, there already was a conservative majority on the Supreme Court and now if she becomes the next Supreme Court justice, you will have a 6-3 conservative majority on that court and that could have an impact for decades, particularly given the fact that judge Amy Coney Barrett is 48 years old.
She can serve on this bench for a long time to come. Of course there are political implications in the short term as well. The president and his campaign certainly hoping that this will rev up his conservative base and encourage them to turn out to the polls on November 3rd in droves.
But there's also the question about the impact that this will have on the Left. Certainly Democrats, criticizing President Trump for moving ahead with this nomination and before Election Day, they are driving home the point that this could really, not only fundamentally alter the balance of power on the Supreme Court but put into question things like ObamaCare and those pre-existing conditions, protections for those pre-existing conditions.
The case on ObamaCare is coming before the court in a matter of weeks and the White House certainly hopes that judge Amy Coney Barrett will be on the court by that point.
We should note, of course, that a majority of Americans, nearly six in 10 Americans believe that it is the president who is elected in the November 3rd, 2020, election, who should pick the next justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The president not at all abiding by that timeline; RAY: pushing for judge Amy Coney Barrett confirmed before the November 3rd election. On Saturday, the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows saying he believes if everything goes smoothly, they could have Barrett confirmed by November 1st -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.
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ALLEN: Top Democrats are denouncing the Barrett nomination. They call it a power grab designed to gut President Obama's signature Affordable Care Act. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was Obama's vice president.
He says judge Barrett has a written track record of disagreeing with the court's 2012 decision to uphold ObamaCare. Biden also said, this, quote, "The Senate should not act on this vacancy until after the American people select their next president and the next Congress."
The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, was even more pointed about it. Listen to this.
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: A vote for Amy Coney Barrett is a dagger aimed at the heart of the health care protections Americans so desperately need and want.
By nominating judge Barrett, to the Supreme Court, president Trump has put Americans' health care at grave risk. And as COVID-19 continues and we need more health care, the nomination by President Trump of Amy Coney Barrett will mean less health care for over 100 million Americans.
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ALLEN: Senator Schumer also said he believes just about every American will be hurt by judge Barrett's views.
But the top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, heaped praise on the president's pick and is promising to hold the vote on the nomination in the weeks ahead. McConnell said this.
"President Trump could not have made a better decision. Judge Amy Coney Barrett is an exceptionally impressive jurist and a well qualified nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States."
A Senate floor vote could happen just before Election Day. The Supreme Court nomination looks to be a major issue in the November election. CNN's Jeff Zeleny spoke with voters in the key battleground state of Wisconsin about it.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Understand that it doesn't matter who we put in as president. Anytime someone challenges something and it goes all the way up to Supreme Court, when you have an activist conservative court, your civil liberties are going to go away. Look to see what civil liberties actions have been decided by the Supreme Court.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's doing his job. It's what the Constitution says. When there's a seat that's open they're supposed to fill it.
It was different 4 years ago because it's like the kind of rule, right, it's like they didn't do it 4 years ago because it was a different party in the White House versus the party that was in the Senate.
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ALLEN: Wisconsin, by the way, went to Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 but it shifted right in 2016, helping to elect President Trump.
Mr. Trump spent Saturday in another battleground state. He won in 2016, Pennsylvania and launched into another round of baseless attacks on mail-in voting. CNN's Ryan Nobles was there.
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RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump making a visit to the key swing state of Pennsylvania and a rally here in Middleton, Pennsylvania, just outside of Harrisburg. The president brought up an issue here in Pennsylvania attempting to sow doubt in the electoral process where a group of discarded ballots were found and that the Justice Department is looking into.
The president didn't necessarily tell the whole story. He used it as a vehicle to undermine the electoral process. Take a listen.
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TRUMP: They're going to try and steal the election. Look at this crowd. The only way they can win Pennsylvania frankly is to cheat on the ballots.
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NOBLES: Pennsylvania isn't the first state where President Trump has suggested that if he doesn't win, that something fraudulent would've happened. He said this in a number of swing states around the country and, in fact, even brought Iowa up on Saturday night, somehow saying that the problems with counting ballots in the Iowa caucuses back in February had to do with absentee ballots.
The caucuses did allow for a small number of absentee ballots, the counting process had nothing to do with mail-in ballots but the president continuing to sow confusion on all levels. This as absentee ballots are already being mailed out around the country and voters are already starting to send them back in -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, Middletown, Pennsylvania.
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ALLEN: Joining me now in Austin, Texas, CNN Presidential Historian, Douglas Brinkley.
Thanks for coming, on Mr. Brinkley.
DOUG BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Thank you for having me.
ALLEN: First up, what does Amy Coney Barrett's nomination signal for the Supreme Court and the balance of power?
BRINKLEY: This is a giant moment for Donald Trump if he can actually pull off getting three justices into the Supreme Court during his first term or only term, that is something to reckon with in the history books.
But it's falling at such a moment, right with the election going on, that I think President Trump's got to be talking about her nonstop.
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BRINKLEY: Waving her photograph, putting her everywhere out there. He has a real deficit with women and the idea that he might be able to show something different than a bad economy, COVID and impeachment. And it's that talk about his three justices plays in his favor.
ALLEN: She invoked the name of Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she spoke during the Rose Garden ceremony when he nominated her.
But she would be a very different justice than the late Ms. Ginsburg, would she not?
BRINKLEY: Oh, boy, so different than the late Ginsburg. She is an arch conservative. She worked for Justice Scalia. She is about as far right as we have seen anybody that would enter the Supreme Court.
But this happens in American history. Suddenly the courts can become very ideological. It doesn't mean she may not change down the line. When we look at when Dwight Eisenhower picked Earl Warren at the Supreme Court, nobody could believe that he would turn progressive but he did. In many ways.
So you never can tell. But for Donald Trump the timing of this could not have been a better political moment for him. And I think we will see it front and center of the debate this coming Tuesday, where Trump is trying to brag about Coney Barrett.
ALLEN: Speaking of timing, has the Supreme Court confirmation ever begun this close to a presidential election?
BRINKLEY: We have never had such a thing of the Supreme Court being jammed down people's throats right before an election and particularly in a climate like we're in right now. This is unprecedented territory we are in.
If it was a proper order out there, President Trump would wait until after the election. But he is an opportunist and he sees that this is a moment to change the conversation to the fact that he got Kavanaugh and Gorsuch and now Coney Barrett.
And that is a big Laurel that he is going to wave and boast about. He really -- I think he is even moving at such lightning speed on this that it is almost blinding. But we will have to see how it pans out. And the confirmation hearing in the Senate is going to be very
controversial and you will hear a lot of dissent from all of the Democrats. They don't want her.
ALLEN: And she has been outspoken in her opposition to the Affordable Care Act. She is a devout Catholic and she joins many other Catholics on the Supreme Court.
So what issues do you expect will be at the forefront during her confirmation proceeding?
BRINKLEY: Right off the bat, the Affordable Care Act, Obama's great signature act that he was able to get through. That is on the line. And unwinding or unspooling the Roe v. Wade. She is a fierce antiabortion voice probably of anybody he was looking, she was the loudest megaphone against Roe v. Wade in her own way or at least early in her career.
So I think that's going to frighten many women in the women's movement, that she is somebody that is really to the Right of Clarence Thomas. One didn't think one could get somebody on the Supreme Court more Right than that.
ALLEN: Do Democrats have a hand to play here?
Could they, if this election tilts in their favor, move to put more justices on the Supreme Court up from the nine?
BRINKLEY: I don't think so. I think the Democrats are just stuck with this. The idea that you're going to go in and trying to find enough votes to be able to blow up the nine justices, it's not in our Constitution.
But when FDR in 1937 tried to pack the Supreme Court and went haywire on members of his own party turning against him. So I think it's a lot of blusters when the Democrats say they're going to do that. If Biden became president and they got control over the Senate.
This just tells us elections matter for Democrats. The timing of Justice Ginsburg's death was not good and we have to live with these things. There is not much the Democrats can do except protest right now, trying to get media moments against her, talk about and use her selection by Trump to motivate people to register to vote for Biden and other Democrats.
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BRINKLEY: Many people don't like what her judicial views are. Get out there and vote for another president because Trump got a second term, he could easily have a fourth or maybe even a fifth Supreme Court justice. We could be living in the age of Trump for a very long time.
ALLEN: We know when she was nominated that the Democrats raised a lot of money so, as you mention, the debate coming up will be interesting to see how this plays out there. Thank you so much for your insight, your expertise, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley for us. BRINKLEY: Thank you.
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ALLEN: Next here in London people are angry, some of them, over social distancing restrictions in place. But it's the wrong time to be out in a crowd. We will tell you why. Just ahead on CNN.
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ALLEN: This is live video here from Portland, Oregon. Protests have continued in this section of downtown. Police arrested more than 1 dozen people late Saturday night. Officials say some of the large crowd became hostile, throwing rocks and other objects at officers.
That following a tense day there, when hundreds gathered at three separate rallies put on by far right and left groups in close proximity. CNN's Dan Simon is there. He filed this report for us just moments ago.
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DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are in downtown Portland and what you're seeing behind me is pretty much the same thing in terms of what we've seen the last few months, when you have a group of protesters. They're in front of the justice center and right now we're not seeing much of a police presence.
But earlier in the night we did see some protesters clash with police. Protesters throwing different things and more than a dozen people were arrested.
I have to say there was a concern that could things could have been a lot worse today. You did have members from the Proud Boys group hold a mass rally. More than 200 people showed up at a local park. The Proud Boys, of course, an extremist group. The Southern Poverty Law Center say they are a hate group.
These are pro-Trump people, they showed up with their weapons. They applied for a permit from the city (INAUDIBLE) denied due to COVID-19 concerns but they came anyway. And as a result of that you did have several hundred left-leaning protesters come to a separate rally.
Fortunately there was no clashes between them. The police fanned out across the city and did their best to try to keep those two groups separate. And fortunately we did not see any violence between those 2 groups.
Now as we approach the midnight hour in downtown Portland, there is a concern that we could see more violence, more clashes between protesters and police. We'll just have to see what happens -- Dan Simon, CNN, Portland, Oregon, (END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: And now let's talk about Seattle, Washington.
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ALLEN: Authorities say they have arrested seven people after protests turned violent there Saturday night. Police tweeted photos showing smashed windows and graffiti. They say protesters caused during a march to city hall.
They ordered the crowd to disperse after some of the group began setting fires and throwing rocks and bottles at officers. Recent protests there have been part of a nationwide reaction to the lack of charges in the police-involved shooting death of Breonna Taylor.
Saturday marked the fourth night in a row of demonstrations in Louisville, Kentucky, marchers protests the killing of Breonna. This follows Wednesday's announcement that none of the officers there in Louisville involved in the shooting are being charged directly in Taylor's death. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has an update now from Louisville.
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SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER: After spending hours in Jefferson Square Park and vowing not to leave as curfew approached at 9 pm, the protesters all left after police made several announcements, saying that they would be arrested if they did not leave.
As the 9 o'clock hour came, the police started to move in; they brought in some of the tactical vehicles, National Guard came in and all the protesters by that time had left. And they came to this church behind me, which they've been coming to every night, which has been serving as a sanctuary so that they can stay on the property.
The church has allowed them to stay on the property so that they could avoid arrest -- Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Louisville, Kentucky.
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ALLEN: And we turn now to the coronavirus pandemic. Israel has shattered its record for daily cases. On Friday it counted more than 8,300 new infections. The numbers of patients in serious condition and on ventilators are climbing, too.
People are not happy with how the government is handling the crisis and they are taking their anger to the streets. Thousands gathered outside prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence yesterday, demanding he resign. They are outraged over new lockdown measures meant to restrict protests.
As you know, Mr. Netanyahu also faces corruption charges.
The United Kingdom now has more than 431,000 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. And as the number rises, people there, too, are coming out to protest lockdown rules. Police in London broke up a large demonstration Saturday for failing to follow social distancing guidelines.
Let's get more now from Scott McLean. He's in London now.
Good morning to you, Scott. Certainly there are many people there not liking which way this is turning as far as restrictions on their lifestyles.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you're absolutely right. And so 2 weeks ago tomorrow actually, the U.K. brought in something called the rule of 6. Essentially no gatherings of more than 6 people. There's an exception for protests but in order to use it, organizers have to fill out a risk assessment and submit it to authorities where they'll have to commit to things like masks and social distancing.
In this, case the Metropolitan Police deemed that this rally was not following those rules that they had set out, there was no social distancing or masks. So they moved to break it up instead.
Meanwhile, at the university in Manchester, they don't have a choice but to follow the rules. In fact, the university is mandating that some 1,700 students from two separate dorm rooms self-isolate for 14 days after an outbreak of some 127 cases on campus.
This comes the same day on Friday that students in Scotland were told they're not allowed to go to bars restaurants or cafes after outbreaks in that part of the country. This is all in an effort to try to keep the virus contained on campus so it doesn't get in out the wider community, where older, more vulnerable people could come in contact with it.
In fact earlier this week, the British health secretary says he's not ruling out the possibility that he might ask university students to actually stay at school over the Christmas holidays in order to try to prevent the virus from spreading.
Of course, in the U.K., as you mentioned, Natalie, the number of cases is rising. The past several days the U.K. has been over 6,000 new cases every day. The number of people in hospital is also rising by about 100 over each of the last seven days.
So officials are trying to figure out whether the measures they have put in place are working and they're crossing their fingers.
ALLEN: That's all you can do sometimes in these moments in these surges. Scott McLean following it for us in London. Scott, thank you so. Much.
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ALLEN: Despite coronavirus deaths in the U.S. surpassing 200,000, top White House officials were seen not following safety protocols at the Supreme Court announcement Saturday. Many took off their masks, guests seemed to be seated closer than the recommended 6 feet apart and were visiting closely together.
And getting tested backhand was apparently not required, notably Alex Azar, see him there in the blue tie, the head of the Health and Human Services Department only wore a mask at times.
The spokesperson had this to say, quote, "Secretary Azar wore a mask for the majority of the event and consistently communicates and practices the three Ws of wearing a mask, watching your distance and washing your hands. In this circumstance, everyone he had contact with, including Secretary Azar, tested negative before the event."
Florida is approaching 700,000 coronavirus cases and more than 14,000 Floridians have died since this pandemic began. The death toll in the U.S. state is higher than those in many sovereign nations. But Florida's government says the threat is easing and it's time to reopen. Randi Kaye is in Florida for us.
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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida would like everyone to know that the state is open 100 percent. We have now moved to phase 3, according to the governor. He says that all businesses can now be open 100 percent, including restaurants, bars.
And nightclubs can also open to 100 percent capacity although there will be some limited social distancing protocols in the bars in and the nightclubs. The governor also says the counties and local municipalities can no longer fine people for not wearing masks.
A lot of counties around the state put in their own mask order, their own mask mandate and now the governor says they can no longer fine people.
This came as a surprise to a lot of local officials including Orange County mayor Gary Demings (ph). He said he found out about all this from a bar owner. He says he's disappointed, he's going to have his county attorney look at it.
And again he's not real happy about the governor's decision. The governor says though that he believes that the threat has eased here in the state. In fact, he would like to have a full stadium when it comes to the Super Bowl coming up in February in the state of Florida in Tampa Bay. That's what he's hoping to see.
And meanwhile, the numbers have ticked down but the cases do continue. We have about 700,000 cases here in the state of Florida, about 14,000 deaths. And now we're getting word of the ninth minor to have died in the state of Florida from coronavirus -- I'm Randi Kaye reporting from Riviera Beach. Back to you.
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ALLEN: Amy Coney Barrett says she is mindful of the legacy of the woman she's been picked to replace at the U.S. Supreme Court. Next, you'll hear what the nominee had to say about Ruth Bader Ginsburg as well as her former mentor, Antonin Scalia, coming up on CNN NEWSROOM. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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ALLEN: Welcome back, I'm Natalie Allen and you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. More now on our top story.
The battle over the vacant Supreme Court seat, the next round starts October 12th with the Senate confirmation hearing for conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett. Questioning beginning October 13th. The whole thing is expected to last 3 to 4 days.
With the Republican majority in the Senate, Barrett's confirmation is all but assured. This comes as the court prepares to take up issues like health care and abortion rights.
In her acceptance of the nomination, Barrett spoke at length about the close friendship between late Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. She said it showed that people can disagree without being disagreeable. Here she is.
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AMY CONEY BARRETT, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CANDIDATE: I fully understand that this is a momentous decision for a president. And if the Senate does me the honor of confirming me, I pledge to discharge the responsibility of this job to the very best of my ability.
I love the United States and I love the United States Constitution. I am truly humbled by the prospect of serving on the Supreme Court. Should I be confirmed, I will be mindful of who came before me. The flag of the United States is still flying at half-staff in memory of justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to mark the end of a great American life.
Justice Ginsburg began her career at a time when women were not welcome in the legal profession but she not only broke glass ceilings, she smashed them. For that she is won the admiration of women across the country and indeed all over the world. She was a woman of enormous talent and consequence and her life of public service serves as an example to us all.
Particularly poignant to me was her long and deep friendship with justice Antonin Scalia, my own mentor. Justices Scalia and Ginsburg disagreed fiercely in print without rancor in person.
Their ability to maintain a warm and rich friendship, despite their differences, even inspired an opera. These two great Americans demonstrated that arguments, even about matters of great consequence need not destroy affection. In both my personal and professional relationships, I strive to meet that standard.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: So the nomination is official. Now what?
CNN's Phil Mattingly explains the next steps for the nominee for Republicans and for Democrats.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in the words of one Republican official after I spoke to after the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, this is Mitch McConnell's ball game now, as in the Senate majority leader, who's been the focal point of President Trump's term for him. He's moved 200, including 2 Supreme Court justices, now is moving towards a third and he's going to move fast.
In fact Republican sources say the calendar has already been circulated for hearings for Amy Coney Barrett starting on October 12th. That's the tentative calendar. It just underscores how fast Republicans plan to move.
They want to confirm Amy Coney Barrett before the November 3rd election and they are laying out the process to do just that. Here's how things are going to work over the next couple of weeks.
The next week the nominee will start her visits with Mitch McConnell, Senate Judiciary chairman Lindsey Graham will follow shortly after and then other rank and file senators will likely speak with the nominee. That will all lead up to those October 12th hearings.
It will be 4 days of hearings, opening statements, 2 days of questioning, then outside witnesses as well. That will tee up a Senate floor vote after the committee approves the nomination.
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MATTINGLY: The expectation is that every Republican on the committee will vote for Amy Coney Barrett and at least 51 of the 53 Republicans in the United States in the Senate when it gets to the Senate floor will do the same.
Democrats have made it clear they are unified in their opposition, not just to the nominee but to the process itself. However they have very little that they can do to slow down or stop it altogether. There are procedural tactics that they can deploy and they do in plan to do that both in the Senate and on the committee floor.
But as long as Republicans have the votes, there's nothing Democrats can do to stop them. That's why Republicans are targeting shortly before the election to confirm President Trump's third Supreme Court justice to the court.
Right now all signs point to that happening. Of course they still have to see over the course of the next several weeks -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ALLEN: Susan Collins of Maine is only one of 2 Republican senators to come out against holding a confirmation vote before the November election. That makes her already competitive election bid even more uncertain. How she's handled Supreme Court nominees has now angers voters of both parties. CNN's Gary Tuchman is in Maine with more about it.
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Susan Collins has been a U.S. senator for almost a quarter century. On this day, she's making a campaign stop at a lumber mill in the small central Maine town of West Enfield.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): This is your daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my daughter. This is Leora (ph).
COLLINS: Hi, Leora.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Maine's Republican senior senator bills herself as the Senate's most bipartisan member.
COLLINS: I want to thank you all for being here.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): A reputation that has helped her win re-election in a state where there are more Democrats and even more independents than there are Republicans.
COLLINS: I should be reelected because I fight hard for the people of Maine each and every day.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): But one particular fight is proving politically troublesome for her. Susan Collins helped Brett Kavanaugh in his battle to become a Supreme Court justice back in 2018.
COLLINS: I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.
TUCHMAN: She voted to confirm, despite sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh from his high school days. Collins' Democratic opponent is the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.
REP. SARA GIDEON (D-ME): My name is Sara Gideon.
TUCHMAN: At this campaign event in the small town of Raymond, Maine, listen to what this man tells Gideon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never would vote for Susan after she voted for Kavanaugh.
TUCHMAN: In the streets of Maine's largest city, Portland, and in the scenic Maine countryside, Kavanaugh's name comes up a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ever since the Brett Kavanaugh issue or the Brett Kavanaugh vote, I felt like she's not listening to what the people of Maine want anymore.
TUCHMAN: How did you feel when Susan Collins voted for Kavanaugh to be on the Supreme Court?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like she's not listening to what people actually want.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a Democrat, but I have always voted for Susan Collins until this year. She has just -- she's just capitulated.
TUCHMAN: If you had a time machine and you go back in time, would you change anything about your vote for Kavanaugh?
COLLINS: I certainly would not. My vote for Justice Kavanaugh was a vote of integrity.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Susan Collins has been a re-election juggernaut. She has won her three Senate re-election bids handily, the last one in 2014 by about 37 percentage points. But this race against Sara Gideon is a whole different ballgame.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): The most recent "New York Times" Siena College poll, conducted just before the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sara Gideon with 49 percent and Susan Collins with 44 percent.
The results are within the poll's margin of error. Collins is polling better, though, than President Trump is in the state and his name comes up a lot, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's just in Trump's pocket. She's scared of him, as so many people are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We used to vote for Collins but I think she's too much of a Trumpee right at the moment.
TUCHMAN: Meanwhile, who will you be voting for in the Senate election?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Susan Collins, definitely.
TUCHMAN: Among voters who are enthusiastic and continue to support the incumbent senator, a concern they often voice shows the political tightrope she has to walk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I think she ought to be more cooperative with President Trump.
TUCHMAN: This man says Senator Collins should --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take more of a conservative stance on issues and vote the conservative position, especially with the upcoming vote on our new incoming Supreme Court justice.
TUCHMAN: Indeed, Senator Collins announced she would vote against the Trump Supreme Court nominee if the vote takes place before Election Day.
Does Gideon give Collins any credit for that type of bipartisanship?
GIDEON: I'm sorry, I cannot say that Susan Collins has stood up for what is right.
TUCHMAN: The senator says that comment is insulting.
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COLLINS: She is apparently under the belief that, if you repeat a lie often enough, that some people who may not have access to the facts will believe it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Two candidates with very different outlooks and opinions awaiting the verdict of the people of Maine -- Gary Tuchman, CNN, West Enfield, Maine.
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ALLEN (voice-over): The first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is just days away. Next here are a preview of what we might expect.
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ALLEN: Joe Biden and Donald Trump face off in their first presidential debate Tuesday night in Cleveland, Ohio, but it will be a much different affair than in the past due to the pandemic.
At a rally on Saturday in Pennsylvania, President Trump noted that his Democratic challenger is the more seasoned debater but only after he repeatedly insulted the former vice president as dumb.
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TRUMP: That's what you call a really dishonest, dumb politician. A dumb guy, he's a dumb guy. Always known as a dumb guy. But we look forward to him in the debate, is got a lot more experience, I've he's got 47 years, I got 3.5 years. He's got 47 years of experience.
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ALLEN: For his part, Biden says Donald Trump lies and isn't that smart.
Jessica Dean has a preview of Tuesday's debate for us.
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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former Vice President Joe Biden spending this weekend focusing heavily on his debate preparations as he gets ready to face off against President Trump in their first debate together in his 2020 election.
It'll happen in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday. We're told that the former vice president, when he's going through these preparations, really likes his aides to just pepper him rapid fire with questions about policy as opposed to a mock debate.
We're also told his former chief of staff, Ron Klain, is heavily involved in his debate prep. Klain was also very much involved in Hillary Clinton's debate preparation with then candidate Trump back in 2016.
Now in previous weeks, Biden had been studying briefing books. He'd been holding smaller sessions with policy aides, really drilling down on details. He also told the traveling press he's been playing close attention to what President Trump has said and what President Trump has not said.
To that end, the Biden team believes that Trump will be pretty unpredictable on that stage. They believe that he will tell a number of lies, falsehoods. They are relying on the moderator, in this case Chris Wallace from FOX News, to really call that out, thinking that it's not lies or maybe even possible for Biden to be the soul fact checker on that debate stage.
What they really want to do is what Biden has been doing for the past months on the campaign trail, draw the focus back to president Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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DEAN: And the ensuing health crisis and economic crisis and really lay that at his feet saying that it's President Trump's fault. And his lack of response that he bungled a response, that America is struggling so much with that.
Now as for the debate itself, there are going to be changes made to that because of the pandemic. It's already moved locations, going from Notre Dame to Case Western in Cleveland, Ohio. We're also told thee will be a smaller audience, typically normally around 900 people. This time will be 60 to 70 people.
All of whom will be tested for COVID before they can go inside. And something we're also really used to seeing, is the spin room, crowds of people and campaign surrogates walking through with media following their every move.
Well, you can't do that in this age of social distancing. There will be no spin room post-debate. Instead television networks will make special appointments with campaign surrogates and that's how they will get their interviews. A lot of changes as we look forward to Tuesday's debate -- in Washington, Jessica Dean, CNN.
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ALLEN: We hope you'll join us. CNN will carry that debate live. Our special coverage begins at 7 pm Eastern, that's midnight Wednesday morning in London and 7 am in Hong Kong for our viewers there; 3 am Abu Dhabi.
Around the world wildfires are a growing danger. Some researchers say that climate crisis is part of the problem. What they think is key to slowing global warming and stopping these fierce fires. We'll have that next.
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ALLEN: From the Western U.S. to the Arctic Circle to Brazil, this year has seen record-breaking fires around the world. Some scientists say the climate crisis is making these fires more frequent and more ferocious.
For more, here's Cyril Vanier.
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CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now familiar scenes from the U.S. West Coast. An orange haze shrouds the skies above some of California's most populous cities as dozens of wildfires blaze through millions of hectares of land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it's gone, it's gone.
VANIER (voice-over): The landscape changing wildfires break records in the region yet again.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): This is a climate damn emergency. This is real.
VANIER (voice-over): An emergency in the western U.S., part of a climate crisis worldwide, as 2020 sees record fires rage around the globe.
Fires across Latin America tear through the world's largest tropical wetlands at unprecedented rates. Brazil's Amazon rain forest continues to burn, brought on in part by deforestation.
In Bolivia, drought and high temperatures are fueling wildfires while land clearing in Argentina led to blazes now out of control.
Australia began the year emerging from its worst fire season on record, destroying thousands of homes and killing as many as 3 billion animals. The fires may have begun naturally but researchers found that climate change played a major role in how fast and wide they spread.
PROFESSOR RICHARD BETTS, THE MET OFFICE HADLEY CENTRE: Australia's warmed faster, Australia's 1.4 degrees warmer than it would have been without a human impact on climate.
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BETTS: So when you get hot, dry conditions, as this occurred, they're even hotter because of global warming.
VANIER (voice-over): Around the world, fires have also raged this year in Indonesia, Russia, Portugal, Greece and in the Arctic Circle, which scientists say is heating at rates more than twice the global average.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We always say what happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic. It does affect our weather in different parts of the world, where hundreds of millions of people live.
VANIER (voice-over): Vegetation burning in the Arctic has released record amounts of carbon dioxide into the. Air this year. Those CO2 emissions helping make conditions warmer and drier on a planet becoming too hot in places to live.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Research shows polish in the proceedings in National Academy of Sciences last year projects that about a third of the planet's population will soon live outside of this ideal band of temperature and precipitation that has proved ideal for humans for the last 6,000 years.
VANIER (voice-over): Scientists say that reducing emissions is key to help slow global warming, now making fires around the world more frequent and ferocious than ever before -- Cyril Vanier, CNN.
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ALLEN: Well, economies that are hooked on coal are a big cause of the world's carbon emissions problem and Poland is one of them. Phil Black shows us why the transition to cleaner energy there will be a long and painful process.
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PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The rough track turns the corner and we descend into a vast, unnatural space. A monument to humans' ability to change the Earth.
It's a sight sure to make climate activists despair: Poland's Turow Coal Mine and Power Station sitting together, locked in a high-carbon, long-term relationship that's not ending soon.
Here at the pit's face, giant bucket wheel digging machines gouge the Earth away. Lignite or brown coal is sorted from waste and swept by conveyor belts directly into the belly of the power station, where it burns, generating eight percent of Poland's electricity.
BLACK (on camera): What they pull from the Earth here has provided energy for the Polish people, fueled their economy for more than 70 years, but it's also a source of security, of national pride, and cultural identity. Whole families and communities have been built on this, and they will not give it up easily.
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BLACK (voice-over): Five thousand plus people are directly employed in the mine and power station. Many more live around them. The whole region's economy feeds off them.
Jamash and Marta Kukuch (ph) have worked in the mine for decades. So did his parents and his grandfather before them. They tell me they're proud miners who know action must be taken to slow down global warming, but not at the expense of everyone who relies on the mine.
That feeling runs deep here, even with the members of the 69th Yachting Scouts Group. Like many teenagers around the world, they say they love nature and worry about the Earth's future. They're also proud to say they recently collected signatures for a petition to save the Turow Coal Mine. They don't see a contradiction.
Emilia Tukatesket (ph) says, supporting the mine doesn't mean we don't support the environment. Turow has permission to keep going for another six years. The state-owned operators don't want to close until 2044.
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SANDRA APANASIONEK, SPOKESWOMAN, PGE GROUP: We go definitely this way. But we have to do it, you know, slowly. Just slowly, not in one year, not in two years. We need a little bit more time for it.
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BLACK (voice-over): That logic sustains Poland's dirty fuel habit. Around 75 percent of the country's energy comes from coal. There is gradual investment in renewables, but the government says coal power is here to stay until at least 2050.
And while energy analysts say COVID-19 was an opportunity to close loss-making coal mines, Poland, instead, successfully lobbied against linking the release of the European Union's pandemic recovery funds to green policies.
This all matters because independent analysis by scientists at Climate Action Tracker shows the E.U. is already a long way behind achieving its emissions targets under the Paris Agreement, the global accord thrashed out to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Like many countries, Poland faces difficult decisions. Breaking coal dependence will inevitably hurt people and change lives. But governments transitioning too slowly risk allowing far greater suffering across our warming planet -- Phil Black, CNN, in Southwestern Poland.
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ALLEN: Thank you for watching this hour. I'm Natalie Allen. I invite you to follow me on Instagram or Twitter. I'll be right back in a moment with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM continues.
