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From Face-to-Face Debate to Town Halls; President Trump Always Ready with Excuses; Virus Infections Spike Due to Complacency; England Facing New Restrictions; In-Person Schooling Not Safe for Children and Families; World Health Organization Officials Grapple With COVID-19 Surge; Dueling Presidential Town Halls; Chalian, Trump Did Not Win Over New Voters At Town Hall; Giuliani Targeted By Russian Intelligence; Italy, France Take Action As COVID-19 Cases Surge; Comparing And Contrasting Dueling Town Halls. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 16, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. presidential election is now less than three weeks away. But instead of a debate, voters got dueling town calls. We'll show you how they played out. Now this comes as millions of Americans cast their ballots early. We look at the potential impact on the race.
Plus, COVID cases climb around the world. We'll tell you about one part of America getting hit hard, and the new restrictions facing certain European countries.
Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to you, our viewers here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. And this is CNN Newsroom.
Well on the night when Joe Biden and Donald Trump were supposed to share the same stage for their second debate, the two presidential candidates instead held competing town halls on rival television networks. At the same time you'll see the sharp contrast between them for yourself in just a moment.
For Biden, the format was familiar territory, to talk policy, although at times he avoided straight answers. When the event was over, he stayed to talk with voters off camera.
Now, a wide contrast, the president while he was much more combative, Trump's responses to pointed questions about the pandemic, white supremacy, conspiracy theories and other issues were largely defensive and peppered with falsehoods. Voters were hoping to find out what President Trump plans to do if he wins a second term, he didn't exactly give them a clear answer.
We get more from CNN's Jim Acosta in Miami.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The voters did not get a lot of straight answers from President Trump during that town hall that took the place of a presidential debate with Joe Biden. Given multiple opportunities to denounce the false conspiracy theory QAnon, the president evaded the question and simply would not say what he thought about the group. Here's more of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I know nothing about it. I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard. But I know nothing about it.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, CO-ANCHOR, NBC NEWS: They believe it is a satanic cult run --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: If you like me to --
GUTHRIE: -- the deep states.
TRUMP: -- study the subject. I'll tell you what I do know about. I know about antifa and I know about the radical left and how violent they are and how vicious they are and I know how they are burning down cities run by Democrats not run by Republicans.
GUTHRIE: Republican Senator Ben Sasse said, quote, "QAnon is nuts. And real leaders call conspiracy theories, conspiracy theories.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: He may be right.
GUTHRIE: Why not just say it's crazy and not true?
TRUMP: Can I be honest? He may be right. I just don't know about QAnon.
GUTHRIE: You do know.
TRUMP: I don't know. No, I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And the president also gave evasive answers on healthcare, abortion, even his own personal income taxes. But perhaps the biggest missed opportunity of the night for the voters was when the president would not say when his last negative coronavirus test was, leaving open the possibility that he walked into that last presidential debate with Joe Biden, potentially symptomatic for COVID-19.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Miami.
BRUNHUBER: Biden faced plenty of tough questions from voters in Philadelphia in a town hall moderated by ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. And while his responses were heavy on policy, there were a few times when he chose to dodge, rather than give a straight answer.
CNN's Arlette Saenz reports.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Over the course of a 90-minute town hall here in Philadelphia, Joe Biden faced a range of questions, from how to handle the coronavirus pandemic to the economy, and to even his support for the 1994 crime bill. This was a heavily policy focused discussion as he faced questions from a mix of undecided voters and people who have already made up their minds about supporting Biden or Trump.
And one of the most noteworthy exchanges came when during a discussion about the issue of court packing, Joe Biden has deflected when asked about adding more justices to the Supreme Court, for weeks now. And he offered a bit more of a detailed answer in this town hall. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not a fan, I didn't say it depends on how this turns out.
I'm open to considering what happens from that point on.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, CHIEF ANCHOR, ABC NEWS: You know you said so many times during the campaign, or through the course of your career, it's important to level with the American people.
(CROSSTALK)
BIDEN: It is. But George, if I say -- no matter what answer I gave you, if I say it, that's the headline tomorrow. It won't be about what's going on now, the improper way they are proceeding.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But don't voters have a right to know where you stand?
BIDEN: They do have a right to know where they stand. I have a right to know where I stand before they vote.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, your come out with a clear position before election day?
BIDEN: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:05:00]
SAENZ: So, Biden they are not completely ruling out the possibility of adding more justices to the Supreme Court, saying he wants to see how this nomination with Amy Coney Barrett moves forward, and will give voters a bit more of an answer closer to election day.
Now, but Biden also criticized President Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. And he was asked about a coronavirus vaccine and whether it should be mandated. Biden said that there should be a discussion of making it mandatory, but acknowledged that there could be legal issues with actually implementing that.
But overall, Biden state very policy focused as he was presenting his agenda for a Biden administration, offering a contrast to the president, without the president even being on that stage. Now, on Friday, Joe Biden is heading to Michigan, where he will have two stops in that critical battleground state as early voting is underway and he is trying to get people to head out and vote. Back to you.
BRUNHUBER: At their town halls, both candidates were asked about their personal COVID testing regimens. Their answers underscored their differences. Biden confirmed daily testing and described the tests he usually takes. Mr. Trump wouldn't give specific details, and he refused to say whether he had taken a test before the first presidential debate, days before he was hospitalized with the virus. Now listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUTHRIE: So, did you take a test on the day of the debate, I guess is the bottom line?
TRUMP: I probably did and I took a test the day before and the day before and I was always in great shape and I was in great shape before the debate.
GUTHRIE: Do you take a test every single day?
TRUMP: No, no, but I take a lot of tests.
GUTHRIE: OK. And you don't know if you took a test on the day of the debate.
TRUMP: Possibly I did. Possibly I didn't.
BIDEN: By the way before I came up here, I took another chest. I've been taking it every day, the deep test, you know, the one they're going both. Because I wanted to be able to -- if I had not passed that test, and they didn't want to come here, and not, you know, expose anybody. And I just think it's -- it's just decency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Leslie Vinjamuri joins us from London where she is the head of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House. Thank you so much for joining us. I want to talk about something which -- well maybe the president doesn't want to have keep coming up -- you know, the QAnon thing.
I mean, we know the president doesn't want to really alienate supporters who hold fringe positions, but in not condemning them in that question, is that just creating yet another destruction for him late in the campaign when the attention could be better focused elsewhere? LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD, U.S. AND THE AMERICAS PROGRAMME, CHATHAM
HOUSE: Well, I think to be very honest, destruction is a very mild word for something that's very dangerous potentially and the words of the president speak miles to those who are listening and for QAnon and for permission.
So, yes, it's certainly a distraction for him if he's trying to get that 5 percent of the electorate that hasn't fully decided who they intent to vote for. If he's trying to persuade them that this is a president who will ensure security and safety in America streets then I think that that's a distraction.
But it's far more potentially damaging and destabilizing, because it sends a signal to certain groups that they, that the president is granting them permission to remain active.
BRUNHUBER: All right, let's turn to Biden, now. Why this sort of roughly middle ground of not taking a firm position on court packing until later?
VINJAMURI: Yes, this has been very interesting. And we saw also the vice-presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, in the debates with Mike Pence, also deflect this question. They've clearly wanted to watch and see the hearings for Amy Coney Barrett to judge the public sentiment, to see how critically the Senate will move towards a confirmation. All of these are critical questions.
But you know, what we did hear last night is that there will be that Vice President Biden will make a decision before those debates -- before the election. So, there is a commitment. But it is true that they haven't wanted to very clearly say what their position yet, is.
And this is a very important, very important issue, obviously, for Democratic Party voters, very important issue for Trump's base. America is very polarized. They feel very passionately about social issues in very different ways. And the Supreme Court is the lightning rod for that social division in America.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Well there's no question looking at them that of the two town halls, I guess, the president got the greater grilling from the moderator. We saw the Trump campaign tweet about it after. It's all they were talking about on Fox, and Hunter Biden, I guess, so.
Will his supporters see this town hall as the real debate? The debate Trump is engaged with every day a debate, not against Biden, but against the left wing press intent on destroying him, this, you know, watching this would just confirm everything that they knew, that the establishment is against him, and maybe it will further encourage them to rally the wagons?
[03:10:04]
VINJAMURI: I -- you know, I think that that is beyond a shadow of a doubt. That is the narrative has really taken hold for several years now. It's not new that the president hasn't been given a fair platform, that he has been attacked by the media.
We've seen this -- I don't think it's going to change anything to do with the turnout or voting. It might drive more people to be sure that they vote for -- remember, that we are on track for a record turnout in the United States.
David Wassermann of the Cook Political Report is anticipating between 150 and 160 million Americans will turn out to vote. That's one up from 137 million in 2016. So, people are already passionate. They are passionate on both sides. But absolutely, his supporters will see him as being attacked again. It will drive turnout.
And a lot of what's happening right now on both sides of that aisle is about ensuring that people stand in those very, very long lines, that they mail-in their ballots, that they exercise their right to vote. It's incredibly important, but it's also important for the candidates to ensure that people do turn out and vote.
Because remember, as I said before, there's only about 5 percent of the electorate that haven't made up their minds. For most people, it's just about ensuring that they do actually vote.
BRUNHUBER: I want to drill down on that. You mentioned an interesting point, the number of people who have voted, you know, almost 18 million Americans so far. Is that a real reflection of the energy in this campaign maybe for either side? Or just a reflection of the COVID realities that people want to get it done early, and, you know, given the misinformation coming from the White House, might be afraid of voting by mail?
VINJAMURI: I think it's a combination of factors. I think that people are very aware that voting is complicated, that it might not go as smoothly as we would all like to go. But the lines are long, that the mail-in balloting has been fraught because the president has attacked the legitimacy of mail-in balloting, that he is claiming fraud, people are certainly worried that if they mail-in those ballots they might not be counted, they might be contested.
We've seen, you know, that the litigation in the state of Pennsylvania, a critical state. But I think that people are just very certain of who they want to be president. They are passionate I -- mean, you know, the upside for America's democracy is that people are passionately engaged. So, they are lining up because they want to be sure that their vote is heard. So, you know, there are many positive stories coming out of what is a very, very, difficult time in American politics.
BRUNHUBER: Well said. Thank you so much. Leslie Vinjamuri with Chatham House in London. I appreciate it.
VINJAMURI: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Health officials are alarmed about a second wave of coronavirus cases engulfing Europe. So just ahead, we'll take you to London to find out about the new restrictions the British are planning to impose in the coming hours. Plus, we'll talk to a virus expert to find out what he thinks of
President Trump's take on mask wearing. That's just ahead. Stay with us.
[03:15:00]
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BRUNHUBER: There was troubling news for the U.S. and its struggle with the coronavirus. An influential model now predicts that could be more than 389,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. by February. This comes as much of the country is seeing a spike in new infections.
CNN's Brian Todd has more.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New warnings that this pandemic is taking a devastating toll on rural America. Tennessee's health commissioner is sounding an alarm for her state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA PIERCEY, COMMISSIONER, TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: That has been very startling to me and the team over the last several days. Our death rate in rural population is doubled out in the urban population.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: In Kentucky, one of seven states that have just reported record high hospitalizations for one day, the governor says residents need to be jolted into action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): Everybody ought to be concerned. And everybody ought to be doing the right thing. And those that are out there that try to confront you for wearing a mask or being a jerk, that's all they are. And they are putting your health at risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Wisconsin just reported more than 1,000 hospitalizations on Wednesday. Its highest numbers for a single day since the pandemic began. What's behind the spikes in rural areas across the U.S.?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA MALATY RIVERA, SCIENCE COMMUNICATION LEAD, THE COVID TRACKING PROJECT: Some of the bigger mandates that happen in cities like mask wearing and physical distancing are not really translating are going as far as rural areas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: This comes as 35 states are trending upward and experiencing new coronavirus cases. And for the first time in months, the U.S. recorded nearly 60,000 new cases in one day, on Wednesday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERA: A lot of reasons that can explain these trends are, number one, fall weather usually brings colder temperatures and that means more people are doing indoor activities, which is very high risk when it comes to virus transmission. We are seeing some restrictions loosening in several states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Meantime, America's top voice on the pandemic, citing the dangers of household gatherings, told ABC that this year, more Americans may have to forego bringing their extended families together for Thanksgiving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We really have to be careful this time, and each individual family evaluate the risk benefit of doing that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: And there's a new push back to the idea of so-called herd immunity, letting the first run unchecked through communities so more people would contract COVID-19. The thought being some could later develop resistance to the virus. It's been promoted by some scientists and some people in the Trump administration. But 14 public health organizations are condemning the idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: If you just let things rip and let the infection go, no masks, crowd, it doesn't make any difference, that, quite frankly, is ridiculous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: And their new concern that another great fall institution in America, college football, could be in some jeopardy. The biggest name in the sport, Alabama head coach, Nick Saban, has tested positive.
[03:19:58]
The coach of the University of Mississippi says his queen team is, quote, "having issues with COVID after having played Alabama last Saturday." And a big game between Florida and LSU slated for this coming weekend has had to be postponed at least until December after several members of the Florida program tested positive.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
BRUNHUBER: Now, of course, the U.S. isn't the only country with coronavirus numbers heading in the wrong direction. We are getting some troubling new numbers from Germany. During the past 24 hours the country reported daily case record of more than 7,000 new infections. And other European nations are ramping up restrictions as cases surge there as well.
In France, some of its hardest hit areas including Paris will face a 9 p.m. curfew starting later Friday. Health officials in Italy say the country's new case numbers set another record Thursday with almost 9000. And in the U.K., London plans to increase its alert level on Saturday from medium to high.
So, we've all those angles covered for you this hour. We'll start first in the U.K. Phil Black is joining us now from London with more on the new restrictions there. Phil, several regions including London where you are moving to tier two lockdown. Practically, what does that mean?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Kim, So, it's London, but more than that, it is more than half of England's population. They will be living with tougher new restrictions from this weekend. In most of the affected regions nothing is being forced to close but people's personal lives are going to be significantly impacted.
The key change is from Saturday, tomorrow, the people who don't live together will not be allowed to spend time together indoors, so no hanging out with friends and family in homes, restaurants, cafes. Anywhere that's in inside. They can still socialize outside in groups of up to six but that's going to become less practical as the winter deepens.
What it means is that people are going to find it tougher to maintain, to access, to draw support from key personal relationships. London's mayor says it's necessary because the virus is running out of control across, and spreading rapidly across much or every part of London, he says.
But this is not just London. In the north of England, Liverpool is already in a higher alert category in which pubs and bars and some other businesses are forced to close, the government once Manchester and Lancashire to also join that category. But so far, those areas are essentially refusing, defying the government, insisting they need more financial assistance in order to do that.
The government's tiered regional approach to dealing with the coronavirus through the winter, it was only recently announced but it's already under a great deal of pressure from critics on two sides.
On one side, you have those who believe that the existing measures are inadequate, that they are weak, that they will not significantly slow the virus, and they are pushing for some sort of national move, like a short-term lockdown to get ahead of the virus.
And then on the other hand, you've got a growing number of critics particularly within the prime minister's own conservative party who are fed up with restrictions altogether, and who openly question whether they do any good at all, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Phil Black in London, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Now for more on the surge in coronavirus cases around the world, let's
bring in Sterghios Moschos from Newcastle England, he is an associate professor of molecular virology at Northumbria University. Thank you so much for joining us here.
I will start, you know, where you are, northeast of England among the region's worst hit by the virus in the country. We just saw almost, you know, some 2,000 students and universities there in the northeast test positive in the last week or so. How big a factor has students been going back to school, been in the surge that we are seeing in so many countries including, you know, here in the U.S.?
STERGHIOS MOSCHOS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN CELLULAR & MOLECULAR SCIENCES, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: So back in August, we saw many cases of outbreaks in universities and colleges in the United States. Another time it became very clear that it was a major risk for any country in the world that the congregation of young people in the settings of schools and colleges would increase transmission.
And there were warnings given back then that we will see then ongoing transmission in the community that would lead to the seniors being infected and being put at risk of death or permanent disability, or basically loss of quality of life because of this virus.
Unfortunately, governments worldwide did not seem to learn from that situation. They didn't take the necessary decisions to prevent the transmission. I am, first and foremost, an academic and an education focused person. I want to be next to my students to teach them. I enjoy that process most, more than anything else in the university.
But first, before that comes their health and the health of society. But unfortunately, the place we are standing right now is not supporting neither the health of students, nor the health of society.
[03:25:01]
BRUNHUBER: So, you are saying in-person education should not continue, is that the solution here?
MOSCHOS: For the foreseeable future unless it's absolutely necessary. It's very clear that we cannot have face to face education. That involves both the academics the teachers at schools, and I would even hazard the primary schools and below nurseries not being open.
Because we now have data from Switzerland, from France, from Germany, from Italy, from Greece, you know, from everywhere, showing that transmission happens with children, and we do not know, still, and we won't know for years what is the developmental impact of this virus.
So, we cannot take that risk. Beyond that, we need to be able to sustain function of this society and the economy. And if we are allowing the virus to create to access bubbles of the sizes of schools and their associated families and workplace, well, we are not achieving that.
BRUNHUBER: Well, one thing that might help bring down those numbers, experts agree of course we have to wear masks. But even yesterday at a town hall with voters President Trump questioned the use of masks. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I am OK with masks. I tell people to wear masks. But just the other day they came with a statement that 85 percent of the people that wear masks catch it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: All right. So, the president got the number right there, but the interpretation of the study was wrong. You know, the truth is, though, I mean, wearing mask, especially a cloth mask as we know isn't necessarily designed to protect the wearer, but how pervasive is this, you know, masks don't stop the spread claim? And how harmful is this misinformation giving -- given what we are seeing now with the rise in case numbers?
MOSCHOS: Yes, it's absolutely and totally harmful. I cannot emphasize in stronger words without being appropriate for the time of day, that the lack of use of reasonable personal protective equipment, and my God, a cloth mask is a reasonable piece of protective personal equipment, put at risk everyone in your own immediate vicinity and everyone in your community.
The data is clear from the best universe of the United States, the best universities in the U.K. that face masks prevent the migration of aerosols. And we also have results showing that even the incoming aerosols can be contained to an extent by masks.
So why shouldn't we not wear this? There is absolutely nothing about it. And the study about the 85 percent people apparently by wearing masks, well, that's just a number that, you know, can be impressive, but what we don't know is whether these people washing their masks between users or discarding them, whether washing their hands effectively.
Whether they're getting infected by people at their own homes in a setting where they weren't wearing masks? So, it's not as simple, you know, most people that get the virus are wearing masks anyway. It really isn't like that. No. It's multiple layers of protection and we need to take all of these into account.
BRUNHUBER: So if masks are part of the solution to prevention while the cure still eludes us, and further to that, a World Health Organization study came out and found that the antiviral drug Remdesivir has little or no effect on mortality for patients hospitalized within and it doesn't seem to help patients recover any faster.
How surprising, and maybe how disappointing is that given that it's become almost, you know, standard treatment for many here, especially the serious cases?
MOSCHOS: Look, the scientists have come up saying that they are criticizing the design of the study, et cetera, et cetera. But the reality is, clinicians will take a drug that looks like it's good enough and they will start giving it to people. And that's exactly what the solidarity trial represents.
And what we see from those graphs in the trial, is that there is practically no difference between any of the four treatments. If there is a slight difference that is that hydroxychloroquine and interferon actually increase slightly the risk of mortality of death to coronavirus disease.
Remdesivir and Lopinavir basically do nothing. When you build a house, you want to have flat ground so that you have stable foundation. So, if there is any difference then you may start seeing it. Well, that's the thing.
This trial shows us that these two drugs, which I believe only one of them was given to Donald Trump, actually as good as sugar water. The drugs are flat nearly as a pancake. So here we are. We only have Dexamethasone right now that seems to have a degree of effect on the outcome of the disease once you're hospitalized.
Therefore, I need to bring home the message to the listeners that we have four drugs, four drugs that we've had high hopes with and none of them work. We've got many vaccines --
[03:30:00]
We've got many vaccines also in advance stages of trials. And what we need to realize is the vaccines may not work. And we need to be working to that possibility that the vaccines may not work. And not that we have to just live with it, but we have to eliminate this conditions because, otherwise, society breaks down. And we just don't want that, do we?
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We will have to end on that depressing note. I guess the point is --
MOSCHOS: It's not (inaudible), it's a reality.
BRUNHUBER: Just wear a mask that will circumvent a lot of this misery. Thank you so much, Sterghios Moschos, from Moscow in Newcastle, we really appreciate it.
MOSCHOS: You are very welcome.
BRUNHUBER: Well, there is much more ahead, on CNN, including more analysis on our top story. Those dueling town halls for the U.S. President, and his Democratic challenger. Stay with us.
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[03:35:00]
BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to you our viewers in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I am Kim Brunhuber, and you are watching CNN Newsroom. With early voting already underway, the U.S. Presidential contenders
held dueling town hall events Thursday night. President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, did not debate directly, because Mr. Trump refused to participate in a virtual format. But, at the respective events, both candidates face tough questions, including queries on what they do if they lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- just the way I wanted to be. But when I see thousands of ballots, right? Unsolicited ballots, being given out by the millions, and thousands of them are dumped in dumpsters, and when you see ballots with the name Trump military ballots, from our great military, and they are dumped in garbage cans.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, JOURNALIST: Why is a handful -- we can go all night, which we won't, but we can go all night --
TRUMP: No, it is not happening every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Vice President, if you lose, what will that say to you about where America is today?
JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it could say that I am a lousy candidate. And that I didn't do a good job. But, I think, and I hope, that it does not say that we are as racially, ethnically, and religiously at odds with one another as it appears the president wants this to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Election Day is now less than three weeks away, but more than 17 million early voters have already cast ballots in 44 states, and Washington D.C. CNN's political director thinks the U.S. President likely did not win over new voters in this town hall performance. David Chalian said, Mr. Trump's references to conspiracy theories like QAnon, would not help him very much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Who is the voter he added tonight when the headline is QAnon, once again, you know, all over the map on that. Not discrediting it entirely, this notion that that he can just retweet things that have no basis in fact, give conversation out there, to the people that they should be able to talk about it.
He's the president of the United States. He is behind in this race, and there are very few opportunities left with this kind of tune in factor for him to actually add to his coalition now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Conservative CNN political commentator, Michael Smerconish says Republicans aren't trying to add new voters, they are trying to motivate the voters they already have.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I understand what David said, and logically, logically, you would think it is a night where he is seeking to do some addition. But that's never been the way that he's governed, and it's never been the way that he has run this campaign. It is not about addition, in their mind, it is about motivation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Smerconish criticize the fact that both town halls occurred simultaneously. He said, forcing viewers to switch between channels may have left some people with a skewed perspective.
During the impeachment process, against President Trump, he was reportedly warned that his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was being used as a conduit for Russian misinformation. According to the Washington Post, citing several former officials, the president was directly told that Giuliani became a target of Russian intelligence while he was in the Ukraine. Trying to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
The Russians apparent intent was to get Giuliani to pass that information directly to President Trump. But after the president was warned, one former official told the Post, (inaudible) said that's Rudy.
All right. Still ahead, a common challenge for the European Union, France, and Italy are among the countries taking firm action, as COVID cases spike. Stay with us.
[03:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's go back to Europe in the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases there. The World Health Organization says roughly 80 percent of European countries are now seeing a rise in infections. So here's a snapshot of some of those. France, Spain, the Czech Republic, and the U.K.
Now, France has reported a new record for daily infections, while Italy is beginning to close schools that had only reopened last month. We have reporters covering all the angles. We are live in Bordeaux, France, and Rome, Italy. France is imposing a curfew on many of its COVID hotspots including the capital city Paris.
So, that is where we're we go now. We are not going to go to Paris. We'll go to Melissa Bell in France who is joining us from Bordeaux. Melissa, with the curfew just on the horizon, what's the latest there?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that very worrying figures from last night, the largest daily increase in new cases that we've seen since this began, more than 30,000 new cases declared for a single day. And to put that figure into perspective, Kim, you have to consider what the French president announced on Wednesday, when he announced the series of curfews for nine French cities.
The idea, he said was to bring the number of daily cases down to 3 to 5,000. So, that's how far France has to go to meet the president aim. The question is, whether just these curfews will be enough.
[03:45:08]
From Saturday, what we will see is that nine cities with curfews from 9:00 p.m., until 6:00 a.m., it's going to be policed by 12,000 policemen and women. Will it be enough though to bring those soaring rates back under control? The positivity rate, by the, way also interesting, Kim. 12.6 percent, the highest we've seen yet, and just to put that figure in perspective.
On the first of September, it was three times less than that. That is how quickly things have progressed and how widespread the virus now is and how exponentially fast it's rising, especially in some of those really badly hit cities. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: All right. We will keep following that story, thank you so, much. CNN's Melissa Bell from Bordeaux, France.
So, now, we go to the Italian capital where CNN's Ben Wedeman is tracking a surge in cases there. So, Ben, the U.K. just added Italy to its visitor to quarantine lists. So, another sign I guess of the worsening COVID situation where you are?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Definitely. What we are seeing a surge in numbers. In fact yesterday, Italy reported 8,804 cases, that's almost 2,000 more than the height of the pandemic, earlier this year. What we also saw yesterday, that the death toll jumped from Wednesday, 43, to 83. So, definitely, the situation here is getting much worse. Still much better than France, fortunately.
But, there are certain parts of the country where there is real concern, and that is in the region of Campania where Naples is located. There, that region now has the second highest number of active cases, and what is significant about that is that unlike the north of Italy, where the public health system is very good, where people are relatively wealthy. In the south, in Campania people are much poorer and the public health system is much less equipped than the north to deal with this outbreak of COVID.
And in addition to that, you have some of the most densely populated parts of the country. So, the fear is that that part of Italy, which was relatively spared in the earlier phases of the pandemic, earlier this year. Could be about to be hit like a tsunami, as a result of these rising numbers.
So, we understand that now in that area, in that region, Campania, schools will be closed, restaurants must closed by 9:00 p.m. All parties, civic gatherings, religious gatherings, are banned. And now there is talk of the possibility of imposing French style curfews on that part of the country as well. Kim? BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much Ben Wedeman in Rome, I
appreciate it. And please do stay with us, we will be right back with our top story, more on the dueling town halls, stay with us.
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[03:50:00]
BRUNHUBER: There has been a backlash against the dueling town halls involving Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Voters wanting to compare the two candidates were forced to flick back and forth between different TV networks. NBC is coming under fire for letting the president take a competing time slot.
Here is CNN chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: There these twin town halls were a poor substitute for an actual presidential debate. However they were still worthwhile, and some of the critics who were complaining about the format and the scheduling of these town halls, started to change their tune about halfway through.
Of course, it was ABC that schedule a town hall with Joe Biden first. And then NBC that followed up with a town hall with President Trump. They were at the same time on the East Coast in United States. Some viewers did flip back and forth, but I think there is more interest in the Trump town hall, because he had not sat down with a journalist to interview, someone of the caliber of Savannah Guthrie, ever since he came down with coronavirus two weeks ago.
Trump has been calling in to Fox, calling his friends on the radio, but he had not sat down for a big rigorous interview. So, it is notable that Guthrie challenged him about his coronavirus testing history, as well as some other issues in the news. Like his comments in the past about QAnon. So, it was a very newsworthy town hall NBC, but there's still been a lot of criticism both internally and externally about why the network decided to host a town hall with Trump at the very same time that Biden was scheduled to appear on ABC.
In some ways, this was just about a petty network TV rivalry, but the stakes are very high which is just a few weeks left in this election, and with millions of people already voting. Over an ABC, Biden try to appear to be above the fray, above all the Trump noise. Trump, of course, as always in the fray, always making lots of news, always shocking people with lots of comments.
Biden, on the other hand, trying to play the decent statesman, suggesting to people, hey, look over at NBC. You want really four more years of that? It was definitely a split screen for the agents between these two networks. And, later on Friday, we will hear about the ratings. We will see if Trump or Biden had higher ratings, I suspect Trump will be the higher rated program, but of course ratings are not all that matters.
[03:55:10]
What matters in these town halls is was there news made? Did we learn more about the candidate? And most importantly, (inaudible) minds change at all. Of course this time next week, there is one more debate on the calendar. Trump and Biden are expected to meet for one more debate on October 22nd.
Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much for joining us, I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more after a quick break. Please do stay with us.
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