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25 States See Increase in New Cases, 23 Steady, Two Trend Down; Pence and Harris Clash over Coronavirus as Pandemic Worsens; CNN Reports, Biden Crosses 270 Threshold in New Electoral Outlook Map. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired October 08, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

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[11:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN INSIDE POLITICS: Here is a sad statement as we assess the current coronavirus situation in the United States, only two, only two of 50 states right now heading in the right direction. That is a sad statement.

And let's look at the 50-state trend map. Half of the 50 united states, half, 25 of them, now heading in the wrong direction. Meaning more new infections now compared to a week ago. You see them in orange and red across the map, a lot of them our here in the west but really pretty much everywhere.

25 states now reporting more new coronavirus infections now compared to the data a week ago. And 23 states holding steady, that's not heading up, but it's not progress either, 23 states holding steady. Only two, only two states trending down, they are Alabama and Hawaii, the two states that right now can say, we have fewer COVID infections now than we did a week ago.

If you look at the case timeline, one of the candidates on that stage last night, the vice president, Mike Pence, said back in April that this would mostly be behind us by Memorial Day. Well, that's about right here. He was wrong. He was wrong. 78 percent of the cases in the United States since Memorial Day, more than 50 percent of the deaths since Memorial Day.

And you see the case track, the summer surge down some. A month ago, we reported 24,000 new infections, just maybe pushing the baseline down. Forget about it. Wednesday, back above 50,000 and you see the red line trending back up. It is not going straight up or almost straight up, like it was here, but it is going back up, above 40,000 new infections a day. That is the new American reality as we head from fall into the colder months, and as we get closer to an election in which the pandemic is issue number one.

This is another line we wish we could shove down. It is persistent, right here, a flat line below a thousand, but Wednesday, 915 deaths. Most of projections say, as that case count trickles up, this will follow. Let's hope not, but we have been through this before as well. 915 deaths yesterday, now averaging between 500 and a thousand. Most projections, again, say this is going to go back up above a thousand. Let's hope they're wrong.

But way to fewer cases and fewer deaths is lower positivity, and this map, the deeper blues tell you higher positivity. 24 percent of the coronavirus tests in Idaho coming back in the past week positive, 20 percent in South Dakota, 20 percent in Wisconsin, 15 percent in Kansas. You see the double digits across the plains here, 15 percent out in Nevada, 14 percent in Utah. High positivity like that means more cases and it means it's harder to break this cycle. You watch the positivity rat here.

Because of the high positivity, some states are now taking a step back. Wisconsin putting some new restrictions in place, the Kentucky governor going back to a mask mandate, Boston delaying the opening of in-person schooling in the Boston public schools and in New York as well, some new restrictions in New York City that have members of city's orthodox Jewish community mad, taking to the streets. They don't like these new restrictions put in place by the mayor.

Shimon Prokupecz is live for us in New York with this. Shimon, the mayor says this is absolutely necessary in certain neighborhoods, but, as always, some people object.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And, look, the issue with the Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn dates back to the beginning of the pandemic when the governor ordered all of the Jewish religious places shut down because of the pandemic.

They took issue with the governor and the mayor doing that back at the start of the pandemic, and now to have to go back to limiting the number of people who can gather at these locations, and they're not happy about it.

The governor and the mayor both saying, this is because people in these communities, people in Brooklyn, it's not just the Hasidic Jewish community, but there are other communities as well across Brooklyn and Queens that have seen an uptick in the number of cases.

One of the issues is that at religious institutions, the governor has said that they're not listening to the advice of doctors, of scientists, who say you need to socially distance, you need to wear masks. That is not happening in a lot of these locations. We saw some of that last night.

The last two nights during these protests in Brooklyn by this community, most of the people were not wearing masks. They were carrying Trump flags. And, of course, when you talk to the people in this community, and I have talked to some of them, and from the beginning of the pandemic John, they take their cues from the president. They're not socially distancing, they're not wearing masks. At the beginning of the pandemic, when schools were shut down, they were having underground schools that the city had to shut down.

So this all stems from the beginning. They are now not happy with the governor, with the mayor and the fact that he's limiting, they're trying to limit the number of people who gather at religious institutions in these neighborhoods.

Of course, we are in the middle of some of the highest, holiest Jewish holidays. They're not happy about that. They feel like they are being targeted by the governor and the mayor, so they are taking to the streets like we saw the last two nights, John.

[11:35:01]

KING: If they take their cues from the president, maybe they can learn a lesson from his positive diagnosis, but perhaps not. Safety is what matters. Shimon Prokupecz, grateful for the live reporting there, I know you'll stay on top of that.

Coming up for us, key moments from last night's one and only vice presidential debate.

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[11:40:00]

KING: The coronavirus was flash point number one in last night's vice presidential debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: On January 28th, the vice president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic.

They knew and they covered it up.

MIKE PENCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The reality is Dr. Fauci said everything that he told the president in the Oval Office, the president told the American people. Now, President Trump, I will tell you, has boundless confidence in the American people and he always spoke with confidence that we would get through this together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Laura Barron-Lopez is a National Political Reporter for Politico. Laura, thanks for your time today.

The vice president's answers were non-responsive, they were evasive, at times, they were laughable when it came to the administration's response on the coronavirus. He kept saying, we trust the American people. It would be nice if the American people could trust them on this issue.

But Senator Kamala Harris also had some punting, if you will, on my word. The vice president tried to ask, and this has come up for Joe Biden too, if the Democrats win this election, will they try to expand membership of the Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: (INAUDIBLE) Susan are voting right now. They'd like to know if you and Joe Biden are going to pack the Supreme Court if you don't get your way in this nomination.

HARRIS: Do you know that if the 50 people who President Trump to the court of appeals for lifetime appointments, not one is black, this is what they've been doing. You want to talk about packing a court, let's have that discussion.

PENCE: I just want the record to reflect she never answered the question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: In that case she didn't, in other cases is he didn't. I guess, in some ways, that made it more of a normal debate, if you will. Now, what was your biggest takeaway?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, certainly, that was one of the moments that a lot of us took away from it which was Harris not answering, the same way Biden hasn't answered so far when he's been asked on the campaign trail whether or not he wants to add seats to the Supreme Court.

That being said, on the issue of the Supreme Court, a majority of voters, a little more than half, say that they would like the Senate to wait until after the election to fill the vacant Ginsburg seat. In addition to that, one of my biggest takeaways, John, was the fact that immigration was not discussed at all. So, across the first presidential debate, which may be the only one as of this morning and Trump's reaction, but the first presidential debate, the debate last night, there was no discussion of immigration, which is stunning given the fact that immigration and building the wall was what Trump ran on in 2016 and in 2018 when Republicans lost control of the House.

KING: It is stunning, and perhaps, we'll see if the second debate, a week from today, that is supposed to be in Miami, and it's supposed to be a town hall with voters, one would assume, it would come up in that community where the issue is so important. But you're right, we don't know if that debate is going to happen now. The president has backed out because he objects to it being shifted to virtual.

One issue that did come up last night was the issue of racism in America, in part, questions about Breonna Taylor case, questions about George Floyd, and the vice president trying to turn this issue into law and order. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: This presumption that you hear consistently from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that America is systemically racist, and that as Joe Biden said, that he believes that law enforcement has an implicit bias against minorities is a great insult to the men and women who serve in law enforcement. And I want everyone to know who puts on the uniform of law enforcement day, President Trump and I stand with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: As you can see, that was one of the fly moments in the debate. We'll leave that for a little later. We'll leave the fly aside. But this is one of these issues that's interesting, actually, because the Democrats think they make their case when they talk about the murder of George Floyd, what they see as the injustice in the Breonna Taylor case. And the vice president is equally firm. This is where the two campaigns just see this issue completely differently.

BARRON-LOPEZ: That's right. When Harris was asked the same question as Pence, which was whether or not in the case of Breonna Taylor's killing by police that justice was served, she said that, no, justice was not. Pence, as well as the president and the administration, have repeatedly said that they don't believe that systemic racism is an issue, whether it's in law enforcement, the criminal justice system or in other institutions.

And what we do know, the facts that we know is that after studying police shootings, that African-Americans are killed at 2.5 times the rate of white Americans despite them only making up 13 percent of the population.

So it was an interesting answer from the vice president, especially given that after a summer of protests and racial reckoning and cries about injustice from black Americans across the country that, again, he and the administration have pivoted towards embracing law enforcement.

[11:45:00]

KING: It is their answer. We shall see. And maybe they should get out of Washington a little bit more and see what's happening out in the country. Laura Barron-Lopez, grateful for the reporting and insights.

And coming up for us at this key moment in the campaign, CNN changing its Electoral College outlook in a way Joe Biden should be happy.

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KING: Some breaking political news just into CNN. It's related to the president's decision this morning to back out of the presidential debate scheduled one week from today.

[11:50:01]

Joe Biden earlier this morning had said he was prepared to show up and waiting to see if the president would change his mind. But a new statement just released from the Biden campaign, Kate Bedingfield, the deputy campaign manager, says Joe Biden will look for an opportunity a week from today to have some other forum to talk to voters, so some other town hall opportunity as a Biden event.

And she's suggesting the Presidential Commission not let the president evade, that's the word she used, having a meeting with voters on October 22nd, which was to be the third presidential debate. The Biden campaign suggesting that format be changed to be the town hall event. So Biden campaign proposal essentially says, let's have two debates, make the one that was planned on October 22nd a town hall, and Biden will have his own event a week from now. Let's discuss with our Political Director, David Chalian. There's a little chess going on here, David, but the Biden campaign says, well, if the president is going to back out, number one, we'll have our own big event. But, number two, trying to put pressure on the commission to force the president into a room with voters.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. I wouldn't even call this competitive chess. The Biden campaign is just winning this completely. This is playing directly into their hands and their strategy around debates, John, they are not the ones walking away from the debate, that was Donald Trump's decision. They're not the ones saying, hey, we need new rules after that chaotic, noisy debate where he interrupted last week. Remember, that was a whole conversation. The CPD was going to put in new structure. No, it is because of coronavirus, exactly the issue the Biden folks want to keep front and center.

So they're saying we are ready, willing, able. The president is backing out and it is because of coronavirus. And, by the way, he's afraid of voters too, so let's do the town hall which is a better format for Joe Biden than a regular debate anyway. They are just able to take this moment now and dictate the terms, quite frankly, because the president let them do so.

KING: And, quite frankly, because they're in the driver's seat of the race right now, in part, because of the math you do as our political director.

Our Elector College outlook, we changed it last night and we've changed it for the first time. You can see right here Biden is at 290. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. Joe Biden is now at 290. He was 269 when we woke up yesterday.

Here is what we changed based on David Chalian's the math. We have moved Pennsylvania. We had that as a toss-up. Several recent polls show an open Biden lead there. We have made that now lean blue. Iowa, we had that leaning red. But, again, at least one new poll, several showed Joe Biden competitive. One chose him ahead. We've made that a toss-up. And Nebraska, lots of electoral votes by congressional district, the second district had been a toss-up. We have seen recent polling and other evidence to suggest that now leans blue. So that is what we have done.

David, what this does is with 26 days to go, puts Joe Biden in a remarkable driver's seat in the race, dark blue, solid Biden, light blue, leaning Biden, it's Pennsylvania, it's Arizona, it's across the America, this race tilting lopsided at the moment.

CHALIAN: It is, John. And I think it's key that it's not just horse race poll numbers that caused us to move this, it is what is underneath those numbers, what's driving Joe Biden's strength in these states and it is the Biden coalition. I mean, you have and I have talked about this.

But if Joe Biden ends up winning this race, it is not going to be because of a recreation of the Obama coalition, he's going to win with a coalition that's likely to be whiter and older than the Obama coalition. So when you look at places like Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin, that had some older voters, white voters, this is why it is a position of strength for Joe Biden. He is digging into some of Donald Trump's turf.

And, remember, Trump won the blue wall states very narrowly. With Biden showing the strength with whites and seniors and male voters, he really poses a threat now to Donald Trump in a significant way.

KING: Right. And if you look at the map, as we now have, at Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio and Iowa as tossups, plus the second congressional district up in Maine, but you look at the remaining big states in the toss-ups out there, David, I just want to pull up this, because we have seen recent polling in these states.

Let me unlock this a little bit and come down and get it, move this up for you. But -- well, that's not going to work at the moment. Okay, we'll make that go away. But we see polling in these states that tells us in Ohio, it is competitive. In North Carolina, it is competitive. In Iowa, Joe Biden is ahead. In Pennsylvania, we shifted it because he's way ahead. In Florida, he is ahead.

Donald Trump is running out of time to change these state dynamics. And now, we might not have a second debate at all.

CHALIAN: Yes, which is a huge problem for Donald Trump, because, you know, John, Joe Biden doesn't need another debate. I mean, it is all risk, very little reward for him even though he got a nice, big boost out of that last debate. It is the guy who is the incumbent in the Oval Office who is sick with coronavirus now who is trailing by double digits nationally, trailing in these key battleground states. He is the one in need of a debate as an opportunity to turn things around, and yet he's the one walking away from it.

KING: He is walking away from it, Joe Biden trying to change the dynamics of the campaign. David Chalian, grateful for the reporting and insights there.

When we come back, we'll continue the conversation. The president wakes up this morning, he says he is fine, he says he can be back out doing rallies. He wants that next debate in person. He says, no, to the Presidential Debate Commission, saying it wants to change the rules, Joe Biden now trying to take advantage of that.

[11:55:04]

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KING: Hello to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you so much for sharing your day with us.

A very important day, breaking political news, the presidential debate scheduled now in jeopardy. This began this morning. The Commission on Presidential Debates deciding to change the format for a debate scheduled one week from tonight.

[12:00:04]

The commission saying, because the president was diagnosed with coronavirus, deciding next Thursday's town hall.