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COVID Spreads Through Trump Administration; Biden's Lead In The Polls Growing As Election Nears; Hurricane Delta Threatens Mexico's Beaches; US Markets Tumble After Trump Ends Stimulus Talks; Boris Johnson Denies COVID-19 Robber Him Of His Mojo; Nerve Agent In Navalny's Blood; Mother Struggles To Feed Family After Losing Job; Biden Call For Unity; New Safety Precautions To Be Implemented At The VP Debate; Top US Officials Release New Video On Election; Trump's Illness Raises Questions About Governing; Rock Legend Eddie Van Halen Dead At 65. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 07, 2020 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Welcome to our viewing joining us from around the world. I'm John Vause ahead this hour on CNN Newsroom user.

First the White House, now the Pentagon. American leaders and leadership, now in the grips of the pandemic. President Trump heading for big lead electoral defeat according to these polls. His failed response to the pandemic, they said his chances for a second term into a death spiral. And Hurricane Delta just hours away from landfall in beach resorts in Mexico, packing up and heading out.

Right now there's no indication just how far the coronavirus has spread into the White House. We do know it has breached the Pentagon. With eight senior military leaders from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including the chairman, self- isolating after exposure to the virus. We do know many who normally work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue are at home because they've been infected, or they're terrified of being infected, or they too have been exposed in order to quarantine.

Like Senior Adviser Stephen Miller, the latest in more than a dozen senior aides to the President have tested positive and is now in quarantine. Miller traveled with the President on Air Force One last week.

And as CNN's Jim Acosta reports despite all of this, despite battling COVID-19 himself, the President continues to play down the seriousness of this disease.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With the President's health cloaked in secrecy, Mr. Trump's lead physician, Dr. Sean Conley, released a statement claiming the coronavirus patient and chief is doing just fine. Saying, "The President reports no symptoms. Overall he continues to do extremely well." Back at the White House, Mr. Trump is throwing his weight around announcing he's ending talks with House Democrats over a new coronavirus relief bill tweeting, "I've instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election. When, immediately after I win, we will pass a major stimulus bill."

Sources tell CNN, there are still lingering concerns inside the White House about the President's health after he appeared to be having trouble breathing as he stood on the balcony following his return from Walter Reed Medical Center. In a White House video, Mr. Trump downplayed the virus yet again.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I know there's a risk, there's a danger but that's OK. And now I'm better and maybe I'm immune, I don't know. But don't let it dominate your lives. Get out there, be careful.

ACOSTA: The President is still super spreading misinformation about the virus tweeting, "Flu season is coming up. Many people every year sometimes over 100,000, and despite the vaccine die from the flu. Are we going to close down our country? No. We have learned to live with it just like we are learning to live with COVID, in most populations far less lethal."

Twitter slapped a warning label on the tweet saying the post violated the Twitter rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.

The fact is, more people in the US have already died from coronavirus this year than from influenza during the past five flu seasons combined. Aides to the President are making blatantly false claims as well and defending Mr. Trump, insisting he was all alone when he removed his mask on the balcony.

HOGAN GIDLEY, NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY TO TRUMP CAMPAIGN: The President is alone on the balcony. Outside, he takes his mask off.

ACOSTA: But that's not true. There are White House staff photographers and other aides nearby. The Trump campaign is also claiming the President is a leader on wearing masks.

GIDLEY: This President has led on the issue at every single turn. And right now is no different

ACOSTA: But that's also false as Mr. Trump has mocked Democrat Joe Biden for using them.

TRUMP: Every time you see him he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from it. He shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen.

ACOSTA: The President is sounding more desperate for a coronavirus vaccine. CNN has learned Mr. Trump has been pressuring some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies to speed up the development of a vaccine as he keeps promising Americans one is coming quickly. TRUMP: We have the best medicines in the world and they're all happened very shortly. And they're all getting approved. And the vaccines are coming momentarily.

ACOSTA: But the virus is still taking its toll, even at the Pentagon where the vice commandant of the US Coast Guard has tested positive, forcing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other military leaders to isolate at home. As a defense official said in a statement, "Out of an abundance of caution all potential close contacts from these meetings are self-quarantining. And I've been tested this morning. No Pentagon contacts have exhibited symptoms and we have no additional positive tests to report at this time."

As for the spread of COVID at the White House, more staffers including a fourth pres aide are coming up positive.

[01:05:01]

Still, a federal health official tell CNN, West Wing aides have been rejecting help from the Centers for Disease Control to do contact tracing after a rush of positive test following the announcement of Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court. The White House is dismissing the notion that the event was a super spreader.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Certainly several of the people tested positive were at that event, but many of these individuals interact routinely on a daily basis certainly when it comes to White House staff. So there's no way to put a pinpoint on it.

ACOSTA: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed the President's decision to pull the plug on stimulus talks, and clearly the White House is in complete disarray. President's move to end the stimulus talks had an immediate effect on financial markets as the Dow posted a big drop after the announcement, an indication that the President's decisions, which are coming as he's battling a deadly virus, can have a major impact across the country. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Saskia Popescu is a Senior Infection Prevention Epidemiologist, and she is joining us now from Tucson in Arizona. Welcome back, it's been a long time.

SASKIA POPESCU, SENIOR INFECTION PREVENTION EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: OK. I'd like you to listen to a little more from the COVID carrying White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Here, she's being asked about the future mass gatherings at the Rose Garden, and she's very non-committal. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCENANY: It was an event outside, some people wore masks, notably several photographers. They wore masks and they all tested positive. So with any event, you take a certain amount of risk nominating a Supreme Court Justice, Article 2 Section 2 power that's an obligation of the president to do this and will continue to fulfill his constitutional duties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There is a lot there. I mean, any event there is a certain amount of risk but there's a lot you can do to minimize that risk that was not done. And also, you know, should you risk your health just by attending a Rose Garden event? And on top of that, you know, there's no 100% certainty that this was in fact a super spreader event, absolutely. But there's no 100% certainty that it was.

So, you know, given how contagious and how dangerous this virus is, the sensible right thing to do would be saying, hey, look, for now, no more gatherings at the Rose Garden.

POPESCU: I couldn't agree more. And on top of it, the fact that they're not allowing the CDC to do contact tracing really means that there's no way to understand how far that this is going to go and where it originated from. But it's very dangerous and almost negligent to say we're not going to hold events when we know that they are dangerous.

VAUSE: Yes. Because in any of these events, there's a logic here that you follow the path, you trace it. You work out. OK, this is where it most likely happened. When you deny that it doesn't -- this is when you lead to a situation that we currently have in the White House, right?

POPESCU: It almost seems like they don't want to know how bad it is and where it came from. So that they don't have to have any kind of responsibility for it, which is a really discerning and very, very, very concerning from a public health standpoint to not acknowledge that there was an outbreak. This clearly acted as an event that amplified transmission, and to have no desire to understand what went wrong and how you can improve it is not a very good approach during a pandemic for the White House.

VAUSE: And as this virus continues to spread to the White House, listen here to the deputy press secretary. He's on CNN a little earlier. And the message he had, despite everything that we can see in reality is that, hey, don't worry, we've got this. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY SECRETARY: Obviously, we've been dealing with this for a number of months now and we know what to do. We are isolating when necessary. We have our hand sanitizer everywhere. We are distancing. We are going about the work of the American people, Kayleigh and others, and Stephen working remotely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK. So they may know what to do but the positive tests which are coming out each and every day, seems to suggest that those guidelines are just not being followed. POPESCU: Well, they can say they know what to do all they want, but unless they actually follow it, it's kind of a moot point. So the reliance on testing and saying you have hand sanitizer is a very, very small percentage of what needs to truly happen. And they've, time and time, improve or proven that really, they're just not following public health guidance for this.

VAUSE: What was interesting is that during that interview, he talked about, , you know, a lot of measures they were taking, the hand sanitizer, did not talk about the importance of wearing a mask when it comes to transmission. Hand washing is effective from stopping the virus from spreading from surface transmissions, right? But it's the mask that stops the airborne transmission. So out of those two, which is more important when it comes to, you know, contagion?

POPESCU: What we know about how this disease is transmitted is droplet and aerosols. And, of course, environmental transmission does occur but it's much smaller of a percentage. So realistically, I'd rather have you invest in all of them, but if you're going to pick one between those two, masks for sure.

VAUSE: So picking the hand sanitizer is pretty much wrong a bit. Saskia, thank you for being with us, we appreciate it.

POPESCU: Thanks.

VAUSE: So after negotiations for that stimulus package broke down, all three US indexes ended more than 1% lower with the Dow closing down 400 points.

[01:10:00]

The President's announcement also dealt a heavy blow to the airline industry which could have received $25 billion in that package. Instead, airline share saw some of their biggest losses on Tuesday.

But the US president's move is having much less of an impact in Asia where markets have been mixed throughout the day. CNN's John Defterios follow all of this from Abu Dhabi.

So, John, what we've heard is that after that sort of initial temper tantrum on Twitter, with Donald Trump saying no financial aid until he's reelected. He seems to be walking that back a little bit. He's sort of demanding Congress now give immediate approval to loans for businesses. So, , you know, does that raise any optimism? Is there any reason to hope?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKET EDITOR: Well, that's clearly a mixed message and apparently is on a conference call with Republican leaders from the House and the Senate suggesting, look, I still want a deal. So let's try to work something out. It was the bravado that was the shock on Wall Street.

And if we take a look at US Futures, very much like the Asian markets, John, they're stable because they think this is Trump, if you will, being Trump. He likes to have the attention shined on him. But you have to say, did he take any political advice because this is political suicide going into the November 3rd election.

You noted the airlines in the lead in here. The CEOs have been warning for the last month, we need a deal. We need a deal. We need a deal. Went past that September 30th deadline, now they're going to furlough the workers, 32,000 with two carriers, American Airlines and United Airlines alone.

But we also have to put into perspective, John, one out of seven Americans are taking unemployment benefits, 26 million of the 150 million that are in the workforce today are still getting unemployment benefits, so it's radical. We had 75,000 layoffs in the corporate sector last week alone.

So how did we get here? Steve Mnuchin, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, all names that are known internationally, have been negotiating since the month of September. In fairness to the House leader, she passed that bill, $2.2 trillion, at the end of June. Nobody tuned in and they only had a 30-day window to negotiate. And it spilled over into October.

Now the logjam here is, the Pelosi package is supposed to support cities and states, and the schools. The Republican senators have been pushing back against it, and it left Mnuchin in a squeeze here. So the strike point is probably $1.6 trillion to $1.7 trillion, not 2.2 and not the lowball figure below a trillion dollars by the Republican Senate.

But they have Trump do something like this, tilting the economy over the edge. And that's not an exaggeration if they don't get a deal before the election that's exactly what will happen.

VAUSE: You ask the question if Trump got any political advice before making this announcement of this decision, it seems he certainly got no economic advice or didn't listen to that. Because the chairman of the Fed actually said, what you read here, just hours before Donald Trump went on Twitter and ended negotiations. Here's Jerome Powell, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, US FEDERAL RESERVE: The expansion is still far from complete. At this early stage, I would argue that the risks of policy intervention are still asymmetric. Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses. Over time, household insolvencies and business bankruptcies would rise, harming the productive capacity of the economy and holding back wage growth. By contrast, the risks of overdoing it seem, for now, to be smaller.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I mean, so just put this in people speak, do too little and you're in trouble, do too much, and it's like, hey.

DEFTERIOS: Yes, that was a bit of Fed speed error in the technical terms. But in fairness again to Jerome Powell, who's a very centrist person, has to have independence as the head of the Federal Reserve Board, the US Central Bank, he's been saying all along, don't pull back right now.

There is a timeline in thought here, John, that you do another six months from October to April, right? You get a vaccine on the market, and then the economy heals itself in the second half of 2021. You needed a patchwork. That's what he's saying right now, the fragility.

We saw retail sales dropped significantly in the July levels, vis-a- vis May and June. This is not a V-shaped recovery, could easily be a W where you go down and up, back down again. And again, on the political front, I'm not sure why the President thinks this is a good high stakes game of poker to play at the very last minute, now he's trying to walk it back, right?

But can you get a deal in the next week or so? I think the markets are giving them the benefit of the doubt, John, that's running out, right? Because of the poker plays he's making right now.

VAUSE: Yes, the clock is running. You're absolutely right, John. Thank you, John Defterios there in Abu Dhabi.

Well, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is speaking out about his own belt with COVID-19. He lies he's lost his mojo. He dismisses claims he's still suffering from the disease. CNN Scott McLean has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is one of the few people on earth who knows what it's like to walk in President Trump's shoes right now, world leader battling the coronavirus in full public view. The coronavirus almost killed Boris Johnson. It also led plenty of his detractors to say that it robbed him of his mojo.

[01:15:07]

In an interview this weekend, the Prime Minister push backed saying that it would be inappropriate for him to bring his usually buoyant style and energy to a public health crisis. And now in his speech to his own Conservative Party, he called the assertion nonsense. Listen.

BORIS JOHN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And, of course, this is self- evident drivel, the kind of seditious propaganda that you would expect from people who don't want this government to succeed. And yet, I have to admit, the reason I had such a nasty experience with the disease is that, although I was superficially in the pink of health when I caught it, I had a very common underlying condition. My friends, think I was too fat.

MCLEAN: Since then, the Prime Minister says he's lost 26 pounds. He's also launched a government campaign to tackle obesity. He may also soon have to make some difficult decisions about how to respond to this country's coronavirus outbreak. The UK is now recording more new cases of the virus per capita than the United States. Meanwhile, the Scottish First Minister is set to announce her own new coronavirus restrictions Wednesday afternoon. Scott McLean, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still to come, a single mother's heart-breaking struggle during this pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being poor, that's what we struggle more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me about that struggle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The struggle that sometimes we eat, sometimes we don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Battling to feed a family, put food on the table after losing a job. All of this coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: There's new evidence that Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin's most outspoken critic, was poisoned by a nerve agent. The world's Chemical Weapons Watchdog group says, blood samples from Navalny contained a new variant of a toxin similar to Novichok, which has been banned.

Navalny became sick on a flight in Russia that was back in August. He was airlifted to Germany for treatment. He blames the Russian president. Western governments are demanding answers from Moscow, except for the United States. Russia denies any involvement calling the allegations a conspiracy.

Novichok is a Soviet era nerve toxin. It was used to poison a former Russian spy in England two years ago.

Russia and US have been testing each other in the skies over the Black Sea in recent months. An unsafe interceptions have increased especially since tensions flared in Belarus. But the US have vowed to continue operations in the region. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen has exclusive access to a US Navy surveillance flight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The US Navy on the move deep into what Russia considers its backyard. We're on board at P-8 Maritime Warfare and Surveillance Plane in the Black Sea. It's a heavily militarized region and we're told Russian jets are in the air.

The cruise spots one creeping up. It's an Su-27 Fighter Jet. It seems to be moving out of reach. But suddenly, our plane is buzzed, the encounter, fast. We catch the fighter just as it's pulling away. [01:20:02]

LT. DAN LOUDON, US NAVY PILOT: It could be an unpredictable pilot, maybe a new pilot or something like that. So that can always be a challenge. We do keep on constant alert when we're being intercepted.

PLEITGEN: The crew is tracking several other Russian jets nearby. Encounters like this one with Russian warplanes are not uncommon for US military personnel flying in places like the Black Sea. In fact, the US military says they're becoming more common, and also some of them are conducted in an unsafe manner.

In late August, two Russian interceptors nearly rammed A B-52 operating here, and what the US says was an unsafe intercept. Russia says it was operating according to international norms, but there's no doubt Moscow is growing more brazen. In 2017, Russian jets buzzed a US warship in the Black Sea and only recently in Syria, Russian military vehicles rammed the US convoy.

President Trump hasn't publicly called out Vladimir Putin for the string of recent incidents between US and Russian forces, but continues to insist he's tough on Russia.

TRUMP: I do get along with President Putin, but I've been tougher on Russia than anybody else by far.

PLEITGEN: Words that don't seem to have deterred Moscow, its presence in the region increasing over the past years. The P-8 flying straight into the lion's den, right off Russia's main Black Sea naval port Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. The crew tracked 10 Russian military vessels nearby, including this Kilo-class submarine before checking on a US destroyer, the Roosevelt, which was also being shadowed by a Russian warship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be advised, you've got the a surface contact, looks to be a combatant. Trailing you in parallel, approximately at 6 miles off your starboard side. Copy.

REAR ADM. ANTHONY CARULLO, US NAVY: Clearly, it's a message to all potential adversaries and a message to our allies and partners. And we're here to support them, keep the freedom and prosperity open for the entire continent of Europe.

PLEITGEN: And that includes missions into difficult and contested areas like the Black Sea, where Russia continues to try and grow its influence. Fred Pleitgen, CNN in the Black Sea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, the 25th name still over the Atlantic, hurricane season is rapidly intensifying as it nears landfall in Moscow, or Mexico, I should say. Delta is now a category four hurricane and has become the second strongest storm of the year in the Atlantic basin.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is tracking the system for us. Mexico, not Moscow, easy mistake, I guess. PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know in 2020, John, we could find a way to make that happen, probably.

VAUSE: I really appreciate it, thank you.

JAVAHERI: But, you know, the storm system is a very serious one here across portions of Mexico, very small in stature but tremendous intensity. And that's the concern here as it approaches an area, home to about a million people across the portion of Cancun, where we think landfall could be very close to this region, around say 6:00 to 7:00 am Local Time.

We were talking about a category four. This is catastrophic in nature. That's what the National Hurricane Center defines a storm of this magnitude, in fact, the verbiage within the National Hurricane Center of this particular category. So storms of this magnitude often bring down well-built homes. They sustain severe damage with loss of most of the roof structure. And in red there, notice most of the area often becomes uninhabitable for a period of weeks or months.

And again, this is for any storm, historically speaking, of this magnitude. And the one saving grace I can say with this particular storm, as you notice the hurricane warnings have been prompted across this region. One saving grace is how small the eye of the storm is where the strongest winds are. Spans about seven kilometers across, notice in 100 years of record keeping, only four tropical systems have actually made landfall in this region with similar magnitudes, with category four or category five.

Delta poised to become the fourth, I should say, only three have. And then you'll notice, as the system migrates back over the Gulf of Mexico as we go from say Wednesday into Thursday, the concern then, of course, is for the Gulf Coast of the US. Models have suggested this will take more of a westerly track, which will maintain its intensity, potentially still a major hurricane on approach.

And notice this guidance here, almost exclusively puts the state of Louisiana. And, of course, if you've kept track of what's happened so far this season, eight tropical systems have entered the Gulf of Mexico, this would be the fourth such storm to make landfall in that state of Louisiana, again, a very, very significant story here.

The storm, we think, could eventually actually become larger in stature, which means those wind fields will expand farther out both to its west and to its east. We're looking at landfall sometime late Friday, maybe early Saturday, on the US coastline, John.

VAUSE: Pedram, we appreciate that. Thank you.

[01:25:01]

Many Americans were already living paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic, or made worse now by mass layoffs not seen since the Great Depression. And our hope for a stimulus check is on hold because the US president ended negotiations. CNN's Kyung Lah met one single mother, just one of many, struggling to feed her family. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The morning routine for Rose Rodriguez and her three girls.

ROSE RODRIGUEZ, LOST JOB DURING PANDEMIC: You cannot play in school. You can play here too.

LAH: Three-year-old Alejandra.

Rodriguez: Come on, get up.

LAH: And 12-year-old Terry (ph) sleep in one bed. Thirteen-year-old Eliza (ph) sleeps on the couch. Breakfast is what she's scrounged from the day before.

RODRIGUEZ: Looks good? Yes? I'll eat whatever is leftover.

LAH: Everything has changed since coronavirus.

RODRIGUEZ: The pantry (inaudible).

LAH: Before coronavirus was this full?

RODRIGUEZ: Everything was full.

LAH: This was Rodriguez at her full time job at LAX Airport. She worked for Qantas Airlines' cargo making more than $20 an hour.

RODRIGUEZ: I thought everything will be good. I thought you know what, I have money for my rent. I have money for the food. I don't have to worry about the girl's health. So I never thought that on Wednesday, I'll show up to work. But no, it wasn't that way. You could lose your job in any time.

LAH: How about the food? I mean, how much --

RODRIGUEZ: The food, that's what we struggle more.

LAH: Tell me about that struggle.

RODRIGUEZ: The struggle that sometimes we eat, sometimes we don't.

LAH: What she manages is cheap, unhealthy food. Rodriguez says she's applied for 50 jobs, 30 interviews later still nothing. Her unemployment application stalled, part of the more than 1 million stuck in a log jam in California system. Her car and most of our furniture repossessed, she's months behind on rent.

RODRIGUEZ: So when we go to the laundromat, we see homeless washing themselves. One day, when I don't go back to work, I'm going to be one of them. We all live check by check, but now it's not check, it's a box, box that I have to stretch out for seven days. LAH: That weekly box is donated food from the LA Food Bank and Salvation Army, while her older daughters learn virtually on public school laptops --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is ready for lunch?

LAH: Alejandra gets free childcare and lunch at the Salvation Army. Too young to understand a virus' impact on her family.

RODRIGUEZ: My youngest, she wants what she sees. But I tell her, mommy, I can't. I have to tell it tomorrow so she could forget.

LAH: And every day is tomorrow?

RODRIGUEZ: Yes, everything's tomorrow.

LAH: Food Banks across the country have seen hours long lines, as record unemployment devastates working families.

MORTIMER JONES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SALVATION ARMY SIEMON CENTER: We do have our peas.

LAH: At the Salvation Army Food Bank in Los Angeles, they fed 10 times the number of people as last year.

JONES: It is not like it happened for a week or two weeks, it's been happening for months. And even though we're trying our best to help, we know that we're barely scratching the surface because we can only do so much with the limited resources that we have.

LAH: Today, Fresh Food Bank supplies mean their shelves are more full.

RODRIGUEZ: Milk and cheese?

LAH: But the joy is short lived, counting down the days to the next food box has begun.

RODRIGUEZ: They shouldn't go through this. They don't have to worry how we can eat the next day. Like my mom has to go look for food or has my mom eaten. And they shouldn't worry about this. Like I should be working and they should be just worried about scoring their future. It just hurts.

LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

[01:29:22]

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom, I'm John Vause.

Well, Joe Biden says there should be no second debate if President Trump is infected with COVID-19. But the US Democratic presidential nominee says he'll decide to participate based on the recommendations of medical experts. Joe Biden was back out campaigning on Tuesday, CNN's Jessica Dean has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former Vice President Joe Biden delivering an impassioned plea for unity.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Today, once again, we are a house divided, but that, my friends, can no longer be. We are facing too many crises. We have too much work to do.

DEAN: With a backdrop of the Gettysburg battlefield, the sight of so much American bloodshed and division, Biden made the case America can come together once again.

BIDEN: There's no more fitting place than here today in Gettysburg to talk about the cost of division.

DEAN: The speech highlighted a consistent theme of Biden's 2020 run. His belief, the election is a battle for the soul of the nation.

BIDEN: Let's conduct ourselves as Americans who love each other, who love our country who will not destroy but will build.

DEAN: Biden also calling for unity around the COVID crisis.

BIDEN: Wearing a mask is not a political statement, it's a scientific recommendation. Social distancing isn't a political statement, it's a scientific recommendation. Testing, tracing, the development and all approval and distribution of a vaccine isn't a political statement. It is science-based decision. We cannot do what has been done. We can't go back. We can do so much better.

DEAN: Biden's unity speech comes as a new CNN poll taken after last week's debate and mostly following Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis shows the former vice president increasing his national lead over President Donald Trump to his widest margin in the election so far. Biden receiving 57% to Trump's 41% among likely voters nationwide.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: I wanted to take a moment to remind you what's at stake.

DEAN: Meantime, one of the Biden campaign's most effective surrogates, former first lady Michelle Obama, offering her closing argument for the Democratic nominee in a new video.

M. OBAMA: We can no longer pretend that we don't know exactly who and what this president stands for. Search your hearts and your conscience, and then vote for Joe Biden like your lives depend on it.

DEAN: Obama, speaking as a parent and a black woman in America, criticizing President Trump for stoking fears about black and brown Americans.

M. OBAMA: So what the President is doing is, once again, patently false. It's morally wrong. And yes, it is racist, but that doesn't mean it won't work. DEAN: Still, Biden hopes his message of unity will prevail.

BIDEN: I do not believe we have to choose between law and order and racial justice in America. We can have both.

[01:35:03]

DEAN: Jessica Dean, CNN, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: For more, we're joined this hour by Matt Lewis, a CNN Political Commentator and Senior Columnist at The Daily Beast. Matt, thanks for being with us.

MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

VAUSE: It seems we've reached that point of the campaign where, you know, Democrats at least, are making their closing argument. Standing at Gettysburg, we have Joe Biden, you're calling for unity for a house divided. Meantime, rattling around the White House, possibly spreading infected droplets, Trump rips off his masks and does the tough guy act along the way kills a stimulus bill, along with the tens of thousands of jobs which are dependent on it.

But wait, there is more, he then follows that up with a tweet storm whining and blaming, which includes this line. "I've instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election, when immediately after I win, we will pass a major stimulus bill that focuses on hard working Americans in small business."

Yes, ever since Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, Biden suspended his negative ads. There really is no need to run them at this point. He said Donald Trump is his own walking, talking, barely breathing negative ad.

LEWIS: Yes, it's really amazing. If Donald Trump were trying to lose the election, I don't know what he would do differently at this point. You know, it was, obviously, Trump had a horrible spring, I thought that he turned it around a little bit around the convention, the Republican Convention. And I thought the race would probably tighten but it's actually hasn't tightened. It's gone the other direction.

And it's looking like it's going to be landslide territory for Joe Biden. It's just -- if the trajectory that we're on right now is not a good one for Donald Trump.

VAUSE: And that is putting it, I think, very mildly. Because across the country, United States with early voting is allowed underway. You were seeing very long lines. This is the scene in Ohio, a lot of people turning up to vote. Websites for voter registration, some states have crashed. Your millions of mail-in ballots have already been sent.

And nationally, Biden is up, we've heard that 16 points in that latest CNN poll. But what is truly interesting for the first time since Al Gore, back in 2000, a Democrat nominee is winning seniors, winning the big lead. Biden up there by 21 points.

Yet, that's not really a surprise when, , you know, the President gave every indication that he was OK with seniors being road kill along the way to herd immunity, and their deaths during a pandemic wasn't sort of the same value of losses someone who was younger and healthier.

So put these two data points together because, you know, we got the national poll, you got the, you know, the seniors. You got the early voting, because, you know, for a long time, there was this belief that Trump could defy political gravity.

LEWIS: This doesn't look like a close race. There's really no metric. There's really no logical reason why Donald Trump shouldn't get shellacked by Joe Biden, it really looks that way. And, of course, even if you compare the polls that Hillary Clinton when we thought Hillary Clinton was going to win, if you compare those polls to Joe Biden, Biden is by far exceeding what Hillary Clinton was doing.

So at this point, it just, you know, every day brings more bad news for Donald Trump. And we're running out of days where he could potentially turn that around.

VAUSE: And Biden's speech on Tuesday, and maybe one of the best so far, if not the best, of his campaign. , You know, along with his call for unity, he called for racial healing. And there was a real standout moment when he said this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Doc Rivers, the basketball coach, choking back tears when he said, "We're the ones getting killed. We're the ones getting shot. We've been hung. It's amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back." I think about that. I think about what it takes for a black person to love America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Just as background here, Doc Rivers, he's the coach of the Philadelphia's NBA team, 76ers, best known as the coach of the Clippers. But, you know, just for a presidential nominee to talk in those stark and confronting terms about race, even to phrase it as a question, it seems historic. Barack Obama never did that.

Lewis: Yes. I think that it's interesting, Donald Trump is, he could have potentially turned it around. He had COVID, that might have been an opportunity for him to pivot and to reinvent himself as a more serious, you know, president. I don't think it would have been enough, but he could have made that pivot and refuses to. He doubles down on the craziness.

Joe Biden, conversely, I think is getting better. He's actually closing out this race very strongly. We saw he had a solid debate performance, partly because Donald Trump kept interrupting him. And now this speech today, which I think it hit all the right notes.

[01:40:00] It's uplifting. It's summoning us to our better angels. It is obviously an historic place. And it's just calling on Americans to unite together. And it's a stark contrast to what Donald Trump has been saying and tweeting rhetorically.

VAUSE: Yes. I guess, we're at that point now where we will find out where the division and anger works or whether, you know, coming together in unity and as one will actually, , you know, be the call that wins today. And that's what just a couple of weeks away now, Matt. But I want to talk about between now and then, I'm sure. Good to see you.

LEWIS: Thank you.

VAUSE: Thank you. But just hours from now, the early vice president debate of the campaign will go ahead on Wednesday in Salt Lake City. Even before Democrat Kamala Harris faces Republican Mike Pence has been snarky back and forth over the need for precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Our reporter in Salt Lake City is Ryan Nobles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This time last week, the idea of holding a vice presidential debate after the President of the United States had been diagnosed with coronavirus seemed very unlikely. But somehow, it is going to happen here in Salt Lake but it's going to be pretty different from the one that we saw in Cleveland a little more than a week ago.

A number of precautions will now be in place when Kamala Harris and Mike Pence take the stage on Wednesday night. The two candidates originally were only going to be seven feet apart. They're not going to be 12 feet apart. And between them will be two plexiglass shields that will be between Harris and Pence to minimize the risk of the coronavirus transferring between either of these candidates.

Now, there was a little bit of controversy regarding this. The Harris camp asked for it. The Pence camp said, if they want the plexiglass shield, they can have it, but they didn't feel that there was any kind of scientific benefit to having one in front of the vice president. They later backed away from that fight and they are now going to be two plexiglass shields on the stage, Wednesday night.

In addition to those precautions, every single person inside the debate hall, aside from the two candidates and the moderator, will be required to wear a mask. That was the requirement in Cleveland as well, but you remember that many folks from the Trump side, including the Trump family, decided to take their masks off anyway.

So the other key both Senator Harris and Vice President Pence have had a number of days in a row with negative coronavirus tests. As long as that holds, it seems as though this debate will take place on Wednesday night.

Ryan Nobles, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah. (END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And a programming note, CNN's special coverage of the VP Debate start at 7:00 pm Wednesday on the US East Coast, midnight Thursday in London, 3:00 am in Abu Dhabi, 7:00 am in Hong Kong. If you miss the live event, catch the replay. That's 8:00 am in London, that's 11:00 am in Abu Dhabi, 3:00 pm in Hong Kong, or you just watch it again over and over again.

Just weeks before the presidential election, US security officials have released a new video outlining efforts to safeguard the election from foreign interference. It's a very different message from the one we've heard from President Trump, as seen as Alex Marquardt reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With less than a month before one of the most dramatic elections in history, a new video has just been released by the top national security officials who are charged with securing the election. Directed towards voters, many of whom are already heading to the polls.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: Rest assured that the security of the election and safeguarding your vote is and will continue to be one of our highest priorities.

MARQUARDT: The FBI director was joined by the head of the National Security Agency General Paul Nakasone, the Director of the Department of Homeland Security's cyber arm Chris Krebs, and the top election security official for the intelligence community, Bill Evanina, who spoke to the variety of threats from foreign adversaries.

BILL EVANINA, US NCSG DIRECTOR: Foreign actors are spreading disinformation, and attempting to sway voters by executing influence operations. They are using an array of cyber activities with the intent to gain access to our election infrastructure.

MARQUARDT: Evanina said, they're also trying to collect what he called derogatory information about the campaigns and the candidates, but assured voters that the foreign efforts would have little effect on the actual votes.

EVANINA: To be clear, it would be very difficult for adversaries to interfere with or manipulate voting results at scale.

MARQUARDT: The reassuring tone of the nine minutes series of addresses is in direct contrast to the President, who has repeatedly claimed that the election will be rigged.

TRUMP: The only way we're going to this election is if the election is rigged.

MARQUARDT: Trump has railed against mail-in voting, which officials have said is secure and will happen in bigger numbers due to the pandemic. WRAY: We have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, and whether it's by mail or otherwise.

[01:44:57]

MARQUARDT: The President and his chief of staff have also gone after the FBI Director after Chris Wray said that Russia was very actively meddling in the 2020 race against Joe Biden in favor of Trump.

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: With all due respect to Director Wray, he has a hard time finding emails in his own FBI, let alone of figuring out whether there's any kind of voter fraud.

MARQUARDT: Today, Wray warned of efforts to undermine faith in the vote, the very thing that Trump's critics accused him of doing, which likely explains why these officials rarely speak out and almost never give interviews, which would risk further angering the President. Instead, they focus these recorded comments on easing voter's fears.

CHRISTOPHER KREBS, DIRECTOR, CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: You know what, elections are going to look a little different this year. While this will change the way Americans vote, Americans will vote. And American voters will decide American elections.

MARQUARDT: Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Just ahead, while Donald Trump tries to predict an image of strength and power, what happens if he does become too sick to govern?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: On the best of days, the President's thinking isn't to sound. So if there's any impairment, it's a real problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That's the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, raising a question many have been asking what happens if the coronavirus leaves Donald Trump incapacitated? What if he's unable to govern? CNN's Brian Todd has some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's doctor says he's doing "extremely well, his vital signs stable." But America's top voice on the pandemic warns Trump could have a setback.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTION OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Sometimes when you're five to eight days in, you could have a reversal. His physicians know reversal meaning going in the wrong direction and get into trouble.

TODD: Trump's doctors have not revealed information from a scan of his lungs. He's on a steroid, which experts say could mask some dangerous symptoms and suppress the immune system. And there are questions about the President's mental state following his bizarre display on the Truman balcony, and his tweet on Monday telling Americans don't be afraid of COVID.

BOB WOODWARD, AUTHOR, "RAGE": if they don't put the brakes on, what's the next tweet going to be? What's the next decision that's going to come out of this?

TODD: One Trump aide says the staging on the balcony was designed to show strength to the American people and America's allies. But with all the questions being raised about whether President Trump is healthy enough to lead, another key question arises. If he gets too sick to govern, what happens next?

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: There is a real question of whether or not if real, existing responsible leadership prevailed, whether or not the 25th Amendment would be invoked to turn over the powers of the presidency to Vice President Mike Pence.

TODD: The first step would be to determine whether President Trump is incapacitated. According to the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, Trump could make that determination himself.

[01:50:00]

JOHN HUDAK, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: He can notify Congress, the House and Senate that he's going to be incapacitated because he'll be sedated on a ventilator. But and until he says so, the powers of his office would be transferred to Mike Pence who would serve as acting president until the President's health improve.

TODD: But what if the President is so sick and incoherent that he can't make the determination himself to hand over power? The 25th Amendment says Pence and the cabinet can essentially take it from him or a super majority of Congress could.

Pence has so far tested negative for coronavirus and his doctor says he's in good health. But COVID has infiltrated the White House and President Trump has been in close contact with Pence. If Pence gets the virus and becomes incapacitated, next in line to be acting president would be the Trump team's political archrival, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

LARRY SABATO, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: I don't think they'd let it happen. They'd find a way around it, possibly the Secretary of State. Someone in the Republican line, either the elective line in the Senate or the cabinet line would take over. It's just untenable. And Nancy Pelosi would recognize that as well.

TODD: If Pelosi is bypassed or doesn't want the job, the rules call for the presidency to go to the Senate President pro tempore who at the moment is 87-year-old Republican Chuck Grassley. But political experts say, getting to that point is very unlikely.

But another key question is, what about the election? What if either or both of the nominees become incapacitated or die from the virus? Nothing like that has ever happened before. So far, Joe Biden has tested negative for coronavirus. But experts say if either of the nominees has to drop out for any reason, then the Republican or Democratic National committees would have to scramble to select a new nominee, a dicey proposition this late in the game since so many people have already voted. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, a meeting that once would seem impossible, ministers from Israel and the United Arab Emirates visiting a Holocaust memorial in Germany. They're in Berlin for their first face to face talks, after both countries agreed last month to normalize relations. The Israeli minister reflected on what the shared experience at the memorial meant to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABI ASHKENAZI, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER (through translation): Standing there commemorating the 6 million Jews, my people was a moving moment for me. The three of us stood there in silence and we commemorated the victims. And for the first time in history, your representative, a foreign minister of an Arab state, was present. Together, we promised each other to never forget and everybody who was there understands why one has to be strong in order to avoid war and promote peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: We take a break. When we come back, the death of a rock and roll legend, a look at the great legacy of the great Ed Van Halen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Without a doubt, he was one of the greats whose talent and influence change to generation. But now the world has lost rock and roll legend Eddie Van Halen. He lost a long battle with cancer on Tuesday. While his life was way too short to 65 years, his legacy will live on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eddie Van Halen was hailed as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. His roofing rhythm branded him a guitar god, and raised the musical bar for future generations

[01:55:07]

Born to a musical family, Van Halen bought his first guitar, a Teisco Del Rey at age 12. He then taught himself how to play.

EDDIE VAN HALEN, ROCK AND ROLL LEGEND: He take lessons going buy a book, which is based on a theory, was the facts are again, only 12 notes would you want one? Everything I do is based on tone and sound.

ELAM: By high school, he was the lead guitarist in the band that would go on to bear his last name, Van Halen. In the span of four decades, Van Halen released over a dozen albums. Their 1978 self-titled debut sold over 10 million copies, and was certified diamond. Its second track, "Eruption," featured an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo that forever redefined the instrument.

Van Halen signature two-handed tapping technique allowed him to reach otherwise impossible notes. The sound was intensified by a custom guitar Van Halen designed and built himself. He called it the Frankenstrat, or Frankenstein, part Gibson part Fender, the Frankenstein became its own trademark.

VAN HALEN: The guitar is pretty basic instrument. It's a piece of wood, strings, our tuning pegs, tailpiece, pickups, blah-blah-blah. It's -- mine's worth Formula One race car.

ELAM: Van Halen's design eventually evolved into his own guitar line. But even with a replica guitar, there's no replicating a Van Halen guitar solo.

From the band's 1984 hit "Panama," to his "Eruption" sequel, "Spanish Fly," to his collaboration with Michael Jackson's "Beat It." Van Halen's fast-shredding (ph) speed solos will reverberate for all times.

VAN HALEN: My whole life has been music. I could not imagine anything else.

ELAM: Eddie Van Halen, a musical genius who push life strings to their limits.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thanks to Stephanie Elam for that report. Now you're watching CNN Newsroom, I'm John Vause. And yes, we'll be back. More news from all around the world in just a moment.