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Donald Trump Set To Return To Campaign Trail After Contracting Coronavirus; Judge Amy Coney Barrett Stresses Late Justice Scalia's Influence In Opening Statement To Senate; Interview With Mayor Francis Suarez (R), Miami. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 11, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

DAN MULLEN, FLORIDA GATORS HEAD COACH: I will certainly say that. I know our governor passed that role. So certainly, hopefully the university administration decides to let us pack the swamp for LSU next week.

QUESTION: You say 90 -- you want to see 90,000?

MULLEN: I absolutely want to see 90,000 in the swamp this year. There were -- I don't think the section behind our bench, I didn't see an empty seat. It was packed.

The entire student section must have been 50,000 people behind our bench going crazy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Texas A&M listed their attendance at nearly 25,000 fans for that game yesterday. Now in Florida, despite the Governor's reopening plans, the Miami Dolphins, Fred, said officials said this week they will continue to limit their capacity to 13,000 given the positivity rates where they are.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: On the line, all right, Coy Wire, thank you so much.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

President Trump isn't giving up on the idea of a second presidential debate. The White House is now calling for the Commission on Presidential Debates to reschedule this week's canceled event claiming the President is no longer contagious.

This, as Trump prepares to return to the campaign trail tomorrow for the first time since testing positive for the coronavirus 10 days ago. The President is set to travel to a rally in Florida with Election Day just 23 days away now.

He also has scheduled rallies in Pennsylvania, Tuesday and in Iowa, Wednesday; and today the President claiming he is, quote, "immune" from coronavirus, even though there is no medical evidence of immunity.

And tomorrow also marks the start of Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Judge Barrett's nomination are scheduled to run through the week through Thursday as Republicans push to fill the Supreme Court vacancy ahead of Election Day.'

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is now calling on Judge Barrett to recuse herself from some significant decisions, should she be confirmed to the High Court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Given Judge Barrett's conflicts of interest, she should recuse herself from any decision involving the Affordable Care Act and its protections and any decision related to the election that we will have on November 3rd.

The process is already illegitimate, dangerous and unpopular. All the more reason she should be recused; she is being rushed through to decide decisions that she has already seems to have made up her mind on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The controversial hearings and the President's questionable return to the campaign trail come as the U.S. records a fourth consecutive day of more than 50,000 new COVID-19 infections.

All right, let's begin with that new request from the White House for a rescheduled second debate. CNN's Arlette Saenz is here along with Jeremy Diamond at the White House. So Jeremy, you first, what more are you learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was just a few days ago that President Trump said that he would not participate in the second presidential debate after the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the second debate would be a virtual one. Following the President's decision to pull out of that, the Commission announced that it was going to cancel that second debate altogether.

But now, the White House is saying that the President would like to participate and they think that it should be in-person given that President Trump has been cleared by his doctor to return to public activities. Here's the White House's Deputy Communications Director, Brian Morgenstern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The President is ready to debate and his doctors have cleared him for participating in public engagements. They've said he is no longer a risk for transmission, so it would be nice if the Commission would get the debate back on the schedule.

I think, you know, the President is ready to go.

He wants to be on stage debating Joe Biden in person. So if -- if they'll do that, get it back on the schedule, I think the President would be happy to show up. (END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Now, the President's doctor, Dr. Sean Conley did indeed say that the President's latest PCR test for coronavirus shows that the President is not a risk for transmission, saying that there's no detectable virus there.

But there are still a number of questions about the President's health and the White House hasn't yet provided Dr. Sean Conley to actually answer questions from the press on this matter. And meanwhile, the President is still spreading misleading information about coronavirus.

This time, it relates to himself and the question of whether or not the President is now immune from the coronavirus. The President tweeting, "A total and complete sign off from White House doctors yesterday. That means I can't get it. Immune. And can't give it. Very nice to know."

Now Twitter has actually attached a warning label to that tweet saying that it violates Twitter's rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information. That's because while there is believed to be some degree of immunity conferred by someone who has had coronavirus, there is no clear data that suggests that that immunity is permanent and what level of immunity there is.

In fact, the C.D.C. stresses that there is no scientific evidence yet that you are completely immune from the virus once you have already had it, and you have the President here suggesting otherwise -- Fred.

[15:05:05]

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, Jeremy and Arlette, what has the Biden campaign said, if anything about President Trump making this request now?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred for several days, Joe Biden's campaign has argued that President Trump is not the one who dictates the debates schedule. On Thursday, they released a statement after the President had suggested moving one of the debates to October 29th, something that the Biden campaign has said that they will not do.

But from the beginning, when the Debate Commission announced that that second presidential debate would be virtual, the Biden campaign said they were game that Joe Biden would participate in a virtual format of a debate. But it was the President who said that a virtual debate was essentially a no-go for him, and at that point, the Biden campaign moved forward with making other plans scheduling a Town Hall with another network for the night of that second presidential debate, October 15th in Philadelphia.

And earlier this morning, Deputy Campaign Manager, Kate Bedingfield was on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper and talked about their thinking about these debates. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BEDINGFIELD, DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, BIDEN 2020 CAMPAIGN: He -- Donald Trump refused to participate in a virtual Town Hall, so we instead scheduled a national network televised Town Hall so that Joe Biden can take questions from voters, and we have every intention and every expectation that we will be there on the 22nd as well.'

But we're not going to let Donald Trump write the rules. He doesn't get to set the calendar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now the Biden campaign has also suggested that the October 22nd debate take the format of a Town Hall as that second presidential debate was initially scheduled to be. There has been no indication that the format of that October 22nd of debate will change. For now, everything seems to be moving forward for that debate that is going to be held in Nashville.

Now tomorrow, Joe Biden is hitting the campaign trail in Ohio, which recent polls have shown the race being very tight between President Trump and Joe Biden despite President Trump winning that state by about eight points back in 2016.

Biden will be visiting two cities, Toledo and Cincinnati both areas that went Democratic back in 2016, as they are hoping to boost turnout in that very competitive state -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Arlette Saenz and Jeremy Diamond, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

All right, the other big breaking story, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the hearings begin tomorrow. Joining me right now is CNN congressional reporter Lauren Fox. So Lauren, what can be expected tomorrow?

LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS U.S. CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well expect this to be the first opportunity that Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are going to have to actually start questioning the nominee.

Now tomorrow is really laying the table for how this four-day confirmation process is going to go. Essentially, you're going to have all the members on the Judiciary Committee starting with the Chairman, Lindsey Graham and then Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, all of them will be making their opening statements. That's going to take most of the day tomorrow.

Then after the lunch break, you're going to have an opportunity where Amy Coney Barrett, the nominee will actually be introduced. She will be sworn in and then she will give her opening statement and we expect that she is going to be highlighting the fact that it's not just the law that has had an impact on her life, but also her other activities.

She says quote, "There is a tendency in our profession to treat the practice of law as an all-consuming thing while losing sight of everything else. But that makes for a shallow and unfulfilling life. I worked hard as a lawyer and a Professor. I owe that to my clients, my students and myself, but I never let the law define my identity or crowd out the rest of my life."

Now also expect that the fact that the coronavirus is still raging to also loom large over these hearings. Remember it was just a little over a week ago, Fredricka, that we received the news the two members of the Judiciary Committee, Mike Lee and Thom Tillis had both tested positive for the coronavirus.

So all eyes are going to be on whether or not those two senators are going to be there in-person later in the week when a critical vote is expected to begin happening on Thursday. Of course, if they are not present, that affects the timeline of this confirmation process.

Now Democrats have said all along that it's not safe to hold this hearing. But Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz have argued that that's just a delay tactic coming from Democrats. Here's what Cruz said earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I think they are looking for anything to delay things even a day or two or three. And I think that Senate Republicans will follow the guidance, the medical guidance of the Capitol physician and we will go through -- we've managed to have hearings for months in a way that has been safe and has protected everyone's safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And Fredricka, tomorrow is going to look so different than what we have seen in past SCOTUS nomination hearings given the fact of all these coronavirus safety precautions that are going to be taking place.

[15:10:05]

FOX: Expect that members are only going to have one staff member for every single senator in the room. Also expect that there's going to be a lot less press on the floor of the Judiciary Committee hearing room and of course, no public visitors who are going to be able to be in the room for this confirmation hearing process -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Very different, indeed. Sign of the times. All right. Thank you so much, Lauren Fox.

All right. Up next. The battle over mail-in voting heats up as a judge temporarily allows Texas to limit ballot drop off locations. What impact will that have on the election?

Plus, a troubling prediction from former C.D.C. Director, Dr. Tom Frieden. He predicts 20,000 more Americans will die of coronavirus by the end of the month.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: In Texas, a Federal Appeals Court Judge has granted a

temporary stay allowing a directive from the Republican Governor to stay in place. That directive to restrict ballot drop boxes to one per county. Now, this comes one day after a Federal Judge blocked Governor Abbott's directive.

[15:15:18]

WHITFIELD: Meantime, in Pennsylvania, a Federal Judge has denied a bid by the Trump campaign and Republican Party to make ballot drop boxes unconstitutional. The judge rejected Republicans fears of voter fraud saying that it's possible, but not proven likely.

With me now as Carolyn DeWitt, she is the President and Executive Director of Rock the Vote, which for 30 years now has been working to build the political power of young people. All right, good to see you. So what's your thought on this appellate judge now, granting a stay on Governor Abbott's directive?

CAROLYN DEWITT, PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ROCK THE VOTE: Yes, I mean, this is really concerning. People don't realize, our election is -- or our democracy is really at stake with this election and what we have are individuals in power, like Governor Abbott, like Trump's campaign, who, frankly hate democracy. They resent the fact that power is held with the people and they're afraid that if people come out and vote that the election won't go in their favor.

And so what we're seeing are these pathetic attempts to really limit who can vote in order to control the outcome of elections, and it's terribly concerning. And the reality is, no matter what the decisions that are made at core, obviously, we want them to go in in the direction of voting rights to make it so that people can vote.

But the reality is, so much damage has already been done, from disinformation tweeted out by our President to confusion, undermining of this election. And so this is a difficult election right now.

WHITFIELD: You know, and as it pertains to Texas, and you know, Harris County, which is huge, our own Ed Lavandera kind of demonstrated, you know, the drive, an hour drive to get to that one drop box, an hour drive. You know, obviously, there are a lot of people who are doing their mail-in voting because there are concerns and limitations, perhaps even physically as to why they're not going to, you know, stand in line on Election Day.

So what's your understanding of kind of the best argument that the Texas governor and his supporters are able to make -- to justify why you have such a limitation of access to drop off your ballot.

DEWITT: There is no justification. That's the reality. This is the second presidential election without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, and so what we are seeing are abuses of power. That wouldn't have happened under the Voting Rights Act.

You know, the Supreme Court decision in 2013 with Shelby County v. Holder, which is sitting, kicked it to Congress to say come up with a new formula to determine these bad actors. Bills are sitting in the Senate right now, that won't be brought to the floor to help resolve this.

So there's no justification for making it more difficult for people to participate in our democracy. By definition, we are a democracy. That means that people have to exercise their power and their right. It's crazy to me that we would have -- we would have elected officials who are trying to make it harder to participate in our democracy.

When you only have a certain percentage of people participating. It's actually not a democracy anymore. And so yes, go ahead. Sorry.

WHITFIELD: Well, I was going to say, you know, by design, the Rock the Vote is to, you know, galvanize young people to vote. Things are very different right now. So how do you inspire young people to get on board to vote? Is the effort any more challenging today than it was when you all first started this?

DEWITT: You know, the reality is, young people are very inspired. They're very passionate about the issues. They're very passionate about the future of our country and their communities. What we've done at Rock the Vote is we've been fortunate enough to be very adaptable to the restrictions that we have right now in our country with shelter in place and the need for us to really leverage digital tools and civic technology to help walk people through the process.

I mean, so much of what we do at Rock the Vote is help young voters who are new voters, they are doing this for the first or the second time. Walk them through the process, and demystify the process and find out what the steps are, find out where they go for that information.

And the reality is, this is true for all voters. All voters are voting for the first time in a pandemic. There's a lot of changing information and dates and deadlines. And so, so much of what we do is work with trusted messengers, whether those are brands, whether they are athletes. We have a lot of partnerships.

We work to educate and break down the information step by step whether someone wants to drop off their ballot, whether they want to mail it in, or whether they want to know if they have early voting -- all of that --

WHITFIELD: It sounds like, you're still pretty confident it's working. These efforts are working. They're excited.

[15:20:07]

DEWITT: There's a lot at stake here, but -- young people are very excited. I mean, we have to remember that this generation broke turnout records in the midterm election. So the reality is and as a result of that, we saw elected officials actually try and make it harder for young people to vote in 2020. So, I'm inspired. I'm inspired, but we have a lot of work to do.

WHITFIELD: All right. Inspiration really important, particularly now. Carolyn DeWitt of Rock the Vote, thank you so much.

DEWITT: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up next, children in Miami Dade County went back to class and there are already at least four -- there are rather already at least four cases of coronavirus. Should parents be worried?

Plus, through scandal and tragedy, Jackie Kennedy's strength inspired America. The new CNN Original Series "First Ladies" profiling Jackie Kennedy tonight at 10 on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:27]

WHITFIELD: All right, this just in. Dr. Anthony Fauci tells CNN that he did not consent to appear in a campaign ad for President Trump. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us at the White House.

Tell us more about how this came to be and now the fallout.

DIAMOND: Well, listen, the Trump campaign seems to be recognizing one clear fact, which is that Americans broadly trust Dr. Anthony Fauci much more than they trust President Trump as it relates to the coronavirus response.

And so the Trump campaign has decided to use Dr. Fauci who is a career public servant, who has served Democratic and Republican administrations alike in one of his latest campaign ads. I want to show you that ad and then we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): President Trump is recovering from the coronavirus and so is America. Together, we rose to meet the challenge.

President Trump tackled the virus head on as leaders should.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I can't imagine that anybody could be doing more --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Now not only did the campaign not provide a date for that clip there, that is actually Dr. Anthony Fauci back in March, in the early months of this pandemic, but they also took Fauci's comments out of context, making it sound like he was talking about President Trump.

And that is what Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying in a statement, first obtained by our colleague, Kaitlan Collins. He says, "In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate. The comments attributed to me without my permission in the G.O.P. campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of Federal public health officials."

So you hear there Dr. Fauci saying he was talking about federal public health officials and the coordinated response there, not President Trump himself, as the campaign seems to suggest there.

We have asked the Trump campaign for comments; so far, they've not responded -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Okay. Jeremy Diamond bringing it to us when there is. Appreciate it.

Meantime, a former Director of the Centers for Disease Control says 20,000 more Americans will die from COVID-19 by the end of this month.

Dr. Tom Frieden also said on CNN's Global Town Hall that the true number of COVID deaths is well over a quarter of a million. Four states have seen their number of new cases rise 50 percent or more in the past week. Twenty-six more have increases between 10 and 50 percent.

CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro is live for us in New York with more on this -- Evan.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, as you mentioned, the pandemic is still very much with us, and there is news here that suggests that as we move through the autumn, there's a concern about what the future might hold when it comes to this pandemic.

Let's look at some numbers. As you mentioned, only one state has had a decline in cases recently, and 30 states are seeing an increase.

If you dig into that number. Look at this graphic we have of the seven-day average, the national rolling average of new cases, you see that America is in a much better position than it was back in the spring. But that's not news to anyone.

But if you look at the right side of that chart, you see that that decline is kind of starting to stagnate, and that could be because of the persistent resistance to social distancing en masse that we've seen across the country.

On CNN last night, former C.D.C. Director, Tom Frieden said that while we don't know the future of the virus, we do know that areas that take the social distancing seriously do better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, FORMER C.D.C. DIRECTOR: The only thing that's really inevitable is what is going to happen in the next couple of weeks. And from the infections that have already occurred, we will see something like 20,000 deaths by the end of the month -- additional deaths.

Anytime we ignore, minimize or underestimate this virus, we do so at our peril and the peril of people whose lives depend on us. We still have within ourselves, within our communities, within our

society, the ability to turn this around. And if you look around the world, the parts of the world and even the parts of the U.S. that have been guided by public health and have supported public health have done better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Now as freedom suggests, those masks and those social distancing rules, when they are enforced can really help. And we're seeing that here in New York City where overall, the New York numbers are very good.

But we've seen in a few areas across the state where people according to officials are not wearing masks and continuing to go to large religious ceremonies sometimes inside, we are seeing the numbers start to rise again and that really has people concerned.

As the Governor said today, the overall statewide infection rate is now below one percent, but in those areas where people are not wearing those masks and are not doing the social distancing rules, that number is closer to six percent.

That's a very concerning number when you think about the future of this virus, where we are now and what might come next -- Fred.

[15:30:11]

WHITFIELD: Indeed, all right, Evan McMorris-Santoro, thanks so much.

I want to discuss this with Dr. Esther Choo. She's an emergency physician and professor at the Oregon Health and Science University. Dr. Choo, good to see you. So what concerns do you have when you hear a former C.D.C. Director say, quote, you know, "The true number of coronavirus deaths is well over a quarter of a million deaths in the U.S. so far."

DR. ESTHER CHOO, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN AND PROFESSOR, OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: Yes, we know from the beginning that we fell behind in testing early and we continue to have insufficiency in testing. So I agree with Dr. Frieden, we don't really know the numbers of cases or the number of deaths, but it certainly is some order of magnitude more than we know, and this will continue to be the case as we go into the fall.

We still don't have many critical supplies, we need to combat this. We don't have adequate personal protective equipment for hospital workers, we don't have adequate testing, and we don't have adequate contact tracing. And then on top of that, we've layered in a whole bunch of messaging recently about how people cannot you know, let their lives be dominated by this, which I -- and then all of these public events where there's very little facemask wearing.

I mean masks and social distancing are our biggest tools against this. We're going into flu season. Hospitals are really bracing themselves for unprecedented volume. This is all very concerning at a time when we should be doubling down on everything that we have, every piece of arsenal we have in our public health toolbox we should be doubling down on; instead, we seem to be loosening our grip on it.

WHITFIELD: And this is more from Dr. Frieden. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRIEDEN: For a vaccine to actually work. It's got to not only be safe and effective, but also be accessible and trusted, and that's why it's so important that it not get politicized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So with cases, you know, rising nationally, what do you think needs to be done? I know you mentioned that now is the time to double down. But you know, what is not being done that should be?

CHOO: There really is no time like the present to really pull together. I completely agree with Dr. Frieden who I look to a lot for information, but also for his emphasis on public messaging, and it is absolutely true.

When we talk about the vaccine, we spend a lot of time talking about safety and efficacy data and not rushing the trials. And of course, all of those things are important. But I would say more than half of the vaccine success will be how much we can all come together and just build trust around public health officials, scientists, physicians, nurses -- everybody who is really working seriously every single day to stop this disease, and what it will take is a lot of consistent and scientifically based information.

Once the vaccine is out there, we have to disseminate it widely. And right now we're not building trust, because we are making this so political. It's not political. It's just scientific the things that we need to do.

Facemask wearing should never have been politicized. It's what we need to do right now in order to combat the disease. We need to just pile on these layers of protection. There is nothing controversial about this at all. There never should have been.

WHITFIELD: The President's doctor releasing a memo last night, you know, clearing the President to get out there and interact, reading in part, "This evening, I am happy to report that in addition to the President meeting C.D.C. criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation, this morning's COVID PCR sample demonstrates by currently recognized standards that he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others."

How do you dissect that? And what's missing in that memo in your opinion?

CHOO: Every memo is more confusing, and I just wonder, why are they saying so many words without saying the simple things that we need to say -- to hear from them? I mean, the things that we need to hear are, is the PCR test negative or positive? And since we know, extrapolating from the data that we have that the President had severe COVID disease, why is the standard being put for forth for him this 10-day period of isolation, the one that's for mild and moderate disease instead of the C.D.C. standard for those with severe disease, who we think have more risk of shedding virus for longer periods of time, which is closer to 20 days, which is not what they are putting forth.

So I mean, the memo is a lot of medical hand waving, but it really creates more confusion. It is very obscure and continues to be, you know, not a good vehicle for clearly understanding what happened to the President, beginning with when did he first become test positive? That simple question is still not answered and would really help us out in terms of setting a timeline that's accurate so that we know what decisions are being made and if they are safe.

WHITFIELD: And on that issue of whether it's 10-day isolation or 20- day isolation, because of his condition, do you feel like there was ever even one day isolation?

[15:35:00]

CHOO: It really doesn't seem like there -- I haven't seen really good isolation. I mean, it seems like the President's schedule has not been very hampered by his COVID diagnosis, and that's an unfortunate standard to set for everybody.

You know, for somebody receiving even better than world class extremely privileged rarified treatment and diagnostic testing and monitoring, to extrapolate from that and say that other people don't need to worry is, of course, ridiculous.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Esther Choo, we'll leave it there. Thanks so much.

CHOO: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead. A debate over the second debate. It was canceled on Friday, but now President Trump wants the Miami showdown to be rescheduled. Mayor Francis Suarez responds coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Election Day, only 23 days away and it is unclear if voters will have one or two more presidential debates to help them make up their minds.

Just a couple of hours ago, the Trump administration announcing that it is asking to reschedule the second debate originally set for this Thursday in Miami because Trump's doctor says Trump is no longer considered a transmission risk to others.

[15:40:24]

WHITFIELD: The Commission officially canceled this week's debate after Trump refused to do it virtually because of his COVID diagnosis.

Joining me right now is Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. Mayor Francis Suarez, good to see you. So your city was supposed to host the second debate scheduled for this Thursday. Then it was cancelled after Trump said no to a virtual debate. And now we have this breaking news about the White House wanting it back on.

So what do you make of these latest developments? Has anyone contacted you about whether it could still happen in Miami?

MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ (R), MIAMI, FLORIDA: They haven't contacted us yet. Obviously, if the President decides to come to Miami, you know, for anything, including a debate, we get some advanced orders from the Secret Service so that we can prepare and we can have our police departments prepared for the President's arrival.

We would love to have a debate in Miami. We think Miami is a wonderful venue to have a debate, given the fact that Florida is, you know, the largest state with the most electoral votes that are up for grabs.

And so I think, you know, it's actually going to be key for the presidential election. So we think that Miami is a perfect venue to have the debate. Clearly, we want the President to be here healthy. I think he is 10 days from the day that it was announced that he was COVID positive.

On day 11, when I was in quarantine, I tested positive on day 11, so I was still positive. Not everybody is the same. Obviously, not everybody's body is the same and I'm not saying that he is positive.

But I was positive on day 11. It wasn't until day 17 that I actually tested negative for the first time.

So you know, that's just something that that was -- you know, my circumstance.

WHITFIELD: So if you were the hosting city for, you know, this debate, if it were back on again, what would you want required of the President in terms of any kind of testing assurances that he would be that he is no longer contagious or infected?

SUAREZ: You know, I think for his own benefit and for the benefit of those around him, I think the safest course would be for him to have tested negative.

The protocol that I followed was that I tested negative twice in a 24- hour period. I tested negative once on day 17th, I tested negative twice on day 18. I think that's the safest protocol. But I'm not an expert. Obviously, I'm not the C.D.C.

So, you know, I'm sure that whatever precautions need to be taken, I presume, and I hope that the President will take them because they not only ensure his own health, but they ensure the health of those around him who could be exposed to him.

WHITFIELD: And of course, we have yet even in that memo from the President's doctor, there's no real clarity on whether he has indeed tested negative, and we have yet to see, you know, when he -- when his last test of negative was before his diagnosis, you know, 10 days ago. So the Trump campaign is also scheduling more live events, regardless

of all of that, including a rally in Sanford, Florida. It will be in an airport hangar. But does that, you know, make Trump or even perhaps his people, his supporters more susceptible, vulnerable, potentially, you know, by them gathering?

SUAREZ: You know, I think the other thing you have to consider now is just the health and the safety of those who participate in any of those events. But God forbid, if somebody does get sick, or if the event turns out to be a super spread event, that's obviously not going to be positive news for him going into the stretch run of a campaign.

So I think, just for political reasons, if not just for health and safety reasons, everybody should be as careful as they possibly can, you know, given the fact that we're going into flu season right now, and there's a heightened sense of worry with many sectors of the economy opening.

And the thought that you know, that this could be hopefully either the end, or it could be another wave -- the beginning of another wave, and we're hoping that it's not that, obviously.

WHITFIELD: Do worry about whether the President going out rallying again, whether that even puts the scheduled October 22nd debate, possibly in jeopardy?

SUAREZ: You know, I don't know enough about his medical condition, and I'm not a doctor, so I don't really want to speculate about his health.

I just know that when I was sick, you know, I did not leave my house until I had two positive -- I am sorry, two negative tests consecutively. Not only did I do that for my own health. You know, I didn't know exactly how this virus can affect me, but I did it because I wanted to prove to anyone who may come close, you know, get into some close contact with me as the mayor of a major city, that I was safe to be around.

And so I think that was the other reason why I wanted to be very public about my results.

WHITFIELD: Schools in Miami Dade County began to reopen for face-to- face classes in this kind of staggered fashion last Monday. You know, two days ago, health officials reported three students and one employee tested positive for coronavirus.

It's been you know roughly three weeks since the Governor banned the mask fines that you and other cities and counties had in place. So, you know, how do you assure parents and families that their kids and teachers are safe right now in schools face-to-face?

[15:45:17]

SUAREZ: You know, it's obviously very worrisome. You know, we have one of the largest school systems in the United States with 300,000 children and about 40,000 adult teachers. So you're talking about, you know, almost the amount of people that it would be the size of a city like Miami or a city similar in size to Miami, coming back into the stream of commerce. So that is obviously a concern.

Like you said, you know, it's been difficult for us to find people with masks because the fines are not collectible right now. They will not be collectible until after the Governor's order expires, and then the Governor also ordered bars and nightclubs open. So we're trying to navigate that as safely as possible.

So far, we have not yet seen a significant spike. We are hopeful that we don't see one, obviously; but we are worried and concerned, because all the elements for one, are there.

WHITFIELD: Once those, you know, banning the fines took place, what have been your observations quickly about people's behavior? Have people been forthright and still wearing the masks? Or do you think that people kind of, you know, become a little bit more lax because they don't have the threat of a fine in your city?

SUAREZ: There's definitely been a diminishment and there's been a lot of confusion over sort of a mishmash of rules and there's definitely been what I've seen to be more socializing in ways that are not -- you know, that are sort of not in conformity with the rules.

So yes, there are definitely some elements there that concern me. I've expressed that to the Coronavirus Taskforce in my calls with them, in my weekly calls with them. But we're hoping that you know, the worst- case scenario does not pan out that way.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mayor Francis Suarez, continue to be well. Thanks so much for being with us.

SUAREZ: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:38]

WHITFIELD: All right, millions of children and parents have been stressed by coronavirus and the consequential difficulties of remote learning since March. And across the country, school districts have opened up again with students both back in the classroom and some remaining at home.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga takes a look at how students and teachers are coping in this new school year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN NGOSSO, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER: I have this just up here so that the kids can refer back to it --

(END VIDEO CLIP) BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice over): For

the past six months, Karen Ngosso has been teaching her third graders from this makeshift classroom in her Baltimore home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NGOSSO: We connect first thing in the morning. We make that connection and you find a just a huge amount of information, just asking that question. How is everybody doing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA (voice over): The first few weeks of remote learning last spring were challenging. Ngosso says less than half of her 42 students regularly logged in for class, and those that did seem gripped with fear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NGOSSO: I can definitely remember this one student of mine, he was like, "Am I going to die from COVID? Am I going to catch it? Do I have it already? Because I was coughing yesterday."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA (voice over): The start to this school year has been much better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NGOSSO: Everybody is coming on every day. Even with all the technical issues and things like that, people are logging in. Also better, the city's seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases down to 65 from a high of almost 158 in July.

Yet online learning has not been without its challenges. Less than two weeks into the school year, fewer than two-thirds of Baltimore public school students were able to log into virtual learning classes, according to Sonja Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools.

And while most of the nation's largest school districts began the semester fully online, nearly half are offering some form of in-person learning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILY OSTER, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR: And it confirmed case rates in the kids in schools were pretty low.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA (voice over): Without a federal tracking system, it is difficult to compile official data on school-related cases. However, initial data from some 700 school districts collected by Brown University's COVID-19 School Response Dashboard suggests spread within schools may not be as rampant as feared. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSTER: We had about 120,000 to 130,000 kids in in-person learning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA (voice over): Confirmed cases were found in less than two- tenths of a percent of students.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSTER: And the rates with staff are a bit higher than that but still really quite low.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA (voice over): As more is learned about the virus, experts are also learning which students appear more vulnerable according to this initial data.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER NUZZO, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: What we have seen is that sort of age- related phenomenon play out in the case numbers, where younger children are less likely to be represented.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA (voice over): In New York City where nearly half a million students return to school buildings last week, already signs of trouble. One hundred and sixty-nine public schools are now close to students after an uptick of COVID cases in their neighborhoods.

Karen Ngosso believes that schools should remain closed for now. The risks in her view far outweigh the benefits, even when presented with early data.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NGOSSO: You want to make sure it's safe. I don't want to be a guinea pig to see, you know, is it safe? I know what I do in my space. You know, I know how I'm handling the pandemic, but I can't control what anybody else does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA (voice over): Bianna Golodryga, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right up next, Senator Lindsey Graham criticized over his comments about race as his opponent shatters a fundraising record.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:59:49] WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me

this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We're following three major breaking stories this hour. The battle of the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy intensifying as Judge Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings are set to begin tomorrow.

[16:00:08]