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Trump Calls for Reopening Wisconsin; Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) is Interviewed about Trump's Rallies amid Coronavirus; Early Voting Starts in Florida. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired October 19, 2020 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Of just 10 states that reported their highest single day case count on Friday.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And yet the president still holding a campaign rally there. Just the kinds of events, crowded, no social distancing, very few masks, that doctors say are dangerous, help spread the virus.

Dr. Paul Casey is medical director at Bellin Health Emergency Department in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Doctor, good to have you on the program again.

More than half -- I mean this figure really caught my attention here. More than half of all positive coronavirus tests, infections in Wisconsin, have been reported since September 1st, just in the last two months, less than two months. You heard the president. I just want to quote him for our viewers.

Here's what he said about the outbreak. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're rounding the corner. You'll see it. We're rounding the corner.

But you've got to open up. You got to go open up. You've got to get the place going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Are you rounding the corner in Wisconsin and do you agree the answer to what you're seeing there now is simply to open up?

DR. PAUL CASEY, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, BELLIN HEALTH EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT: Absolutely not. We are not rounding the corner. Over the last 30 days we've seen an alarming rise in the number of coronavirus cases. On Friday, as you mentioned, we had the highest single day count of 3,800 new coronavirus cases in our state.

We know that 6 percent of those patients will ultimately need to be admitted. So that's just from one day. So in two weeks, when people typically need to be admitted, we're going to have 228 patients across the state who are going to need to be admitted. We are not seeing -- we're not rounding the coroner in this area.

HARLOW: This will seem like a dumb question to you maybe, but if I'm wondering it, I think other people might be wondering it.

When you look at Wisconsin and they are battling the worst coronavirus outbreak in America right now, at least as of Friday, there was a reporting glitch over the weekend where we don't have their weekend numbers. Why -- why in Wisconsin? Why now?

CASEY: So there are several reasons. One -- unfortunately, there's an alarming lack of understanding about this disease. And, unfortunately, a lot of people still think it's a hoax. So 50 percent of the population refuses to wear a mask and we know the current wave is being spread in small family gatherings, lunches with friends, that type of thing. So the biggest thing we're battling is people just understanding that this is a deadly disease and you can catch it very easily. It's highly contagious. That's the biggest thing we're battling right now.

HARLOW: And as I understand --

SCIUTTO: (INAUDIBLE) --

HARLOW: Oh, Jim, I was just going to say, as I understand it, reading this weekend, the Republican lawmaker -- there are Republican lawmakers in the state that are still backing a lawsuit fighting the mask mandate, Jim. I just thought, given what we just heard, that was shocking.

SCIUTTO: No, it's just amazing that months in, you know, you still have to battle for people to accept the facts of this.

HARLOW: Yes. Yes.

SCIUTTO: Dr. Casey, I've been asking folks, because we try to look ahead here, right, I mean because the sad fact of the current situation we're in, I mean it's -- it's not -- the president's not going to change his rhetoric it seems and the numbers are rising. What would you recommend on November 4th to either a newly re-elected President Trump or a new president-elect in Joe Biden that's necessary for Wisconsin to get a handle on this?

CASEY: Jim, it's not only Wisconsin. We need a unified national response to the worst global pandemic we've seen since 1917-1918. Part of the problem has been that we have not had a uniformed response. States have been disorganized. The federal government has been disorganized, leave it to local public health departments to battle for their communities. So it would be wonderful if we could have a unified national response to the worst health crisis we've seen in over 100 years. SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Yes.

What about the field hospital? I mean we were reporting last week that you guys were setting up a field hospital on the state fairgrounds. And you've talked about, you know, beds being placed in the hallways of other hospitals to handle the load.

CASEY: So the field hospital is set up to take care of COVID patients when hospitals become overwhelmed. We have not yet reached that point in our hospital. We look at our daily census, though, and identify patients who might be candidates to go to that hospital.

A couple problems with the field hospital. The first is it's 120 miles away. We are facing difficulties with transportation by ambulances. We had a patient yesterday who needed transportation to Frater (ph) Medical Center down in Milwaukee for a different reason and we were struggling to find an ambulance to take that patient. They were estimating it would take five hours until they could come and pick that patient up and take that patient to Milwaukee. So that's going to be a challenge as well.

The other problem with the field hospital is they -- really they can't take the sickest patients. Patients have to be ambulatory. They have to be able to check their own blood glucose.

[09:35:02]

They can't do all the fancy treatments we do in the hospital. So although the bed capacity is helpful, it's somewhat limited in the services they can provide there. So we will use that if we need to as a last resort, but there's some difficulties with the field hospital.

SCIUTTO: We've got another holiday coming up and the data is very clear that holiday weekends over the summer, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, people traveled more, and infection rates went up. Thanksgiving. What do folks need to know going into this holiday? What would you recommend they do and don't do?

CASEY: So family gatherings, as I've mentioned, are currently the biggest thing we're seeing as vectors of infection for COVID-19. So, I mean, Thanksgiving is an American tradition. We all look forward to it. This year is different. And people just need to understand, if you get together with 20 people who don't live in your household, there's a very good chance that one of those people who does not have COVID symptoms may be infectious and several people in that gathering could get infected.

And the stats are rather staggering. Currently we're seeing a lot of elderly people admitted. We know that one in three patients above the age of 70 who contract COVID will need to be admitted. And then one in three of those patients who do get admitted will die over the age of 70. So those are pretty staggering statistics in my mind. So I urge families to think long and hard about holding personal gatherings around Thanksgiving because there's medical risk to that. SCIUTTO: Well, Dr. Casey, we appreciate you giving the unvarnished

advice there. Thanks so much for joining, as always.

CASEY: You're welcome.

SCIUTTO: A growing number of Republicans are quietly, just a small number, quietly edging away from the president a couple weeks before the election amid fears that he might lose. Perspective from inside the president's party and Capitol Hill, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:41:21]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

A small number of Republicans have been tentatively distancing themselves from the president as there are fears within the party that he could lose two weeks from now.

Texas Senator John Cornyn put some steps between him and the president, some space, rather, when it comes to his relationship with the president. This is how he described it to a Texas newspaper. Quote, maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they're going to change their spouse, and that doesn't usually work out very well.

Well, joining me is Florida Congressman Francis Rooney. He also serves the Joint Economic Committee, as well as the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has had some public disagreements with the president.

Congressman, thanks so much for time -- taking the time this morning.

REP. FRANCIS ROONEY (R-FL): Thank you for having me on.

SCIUTTO: You have considered voting for impeachment of this president, although you did not. You differed with him on issues such as climate change. The president's emergency declaration on the wall, on building the wall, as well as the transgender military ban.

I wonder, we're 15 days from an important election November 3rd. Will you be supporting President Trump on Election Day?

ROONEY: Well, I'm still ruminating about that. You know, this crazy world we're in every day brings some new dialogue, commentary, event. And so I'm going to study everything the next couple of week.

But, you're right, there's probably no Republicans disagreed with the president more than me. Those emergency declarations were unconstitutional. The -- the -- the -- I was the only Republican to vote to reaffirm the two-state solution with Israel, which has been our policy since 1948. And I was -- had an open mind about impeachment.

I spoke extensively with the speaker about running a more exhaustive process to really get all the information, more like a Watergate program, which would have probably raised the level of concern over what the president had done than just that one phone call.

SCIUTTO: OK. Those are enormous differences you're describing there. You're saying the wall funding declaration emergency was unconstitutional. You say that you disagree, you know, on a fundamental issue of U.S. national security and foreign policy, that being two-state solution for Israel and the West Bank.

We're 15 days out. We're four years into the president's administration. Isn't that enough -- don't you have enough material to make that decision at this point?

ROONEY: Oh, probably do, but I'd prefer not to say right now what it's going to be. And I want to see what happens.

I mean who would have thought some of the events of the past week would have taken place. And the more we go down the road resisting masks and distance and tracing and the things that the scientists are telling us, I think the more concerned I get about our management of the COVID situation.

SCIUTTO: OK. Well who do you think would better manage the COVID outbreak based on their public statements, the president still denying the science and Vice President Biden who says he will follow the science. Who, Biden or Trump, would better handle the outbreak?

ROONEY: I don't think there's any doubt that Vice President Biden has the right approach. And there's a lot of Republicans that would agree with that as well. They're -- unfortunately, there's a few Republican governors who do not, like the North Carolina -- or North Dakota guy that was in the news this morning.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Looking at the broader response to this, and I know that, you know, no one's been perfect about it, in no country. But do you believe that the president and this administration has let down the American people on its response to the virus?

ROONEY: In many respects, yes. My understanding is that he was briefed by the intelligence services on as early as the 3rd of January and 11 other times in January and February.

[09:45:02]

And the fact that we didn't act on it while countries like Singapore and South Korea were acting on it, and Australia, is a little troublesome because we had the information.

SCIUTTO: Understood.

The president spoke to your constituents over the weekend in Fort Myers, Florida. And during it, he attempted to strike a more emphatic tone, knowing that there were a lot of seniors there who have suffered through this outbreak.

I wonder, in your view, has he already lost them? ROONEY: He will -- he will do well in my area. It's a very strong

Republican area. I think he has a lot of support. For whatever reason, they turned out 57,000 more votes for Trump in 2016 than they had for Mitt Romney in 2012. So it's going to be very interesting to see how much enthusiasm there is this time.

SCIUTTO: OK.

I want to ask about the plot against Governor Whitmer, which, of course, included a plot against another Democratic governor in Virginia.

The video of their training, and I think we're going to show a short clip here now, and all the things they were planning here, to kidnap and possibly kill. I've seen a lot of terrorist videos in my time as a national security correspondent, ISIS video, al Qaeda videos. This is as bad as any I've seen here.

The governor of Michigan says that by calling her a dictator, by calling her a prison warden, by egging on his crowds to say "lock her up," that the president is, in effect, inciting these groups. And I wonder if you agree?

ROONEY: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I think that a more presidential, compassionate tone, as we've seen out of President Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, et cetera, would calm the fires a little bit and prevent some of these people on both sides of the political spectra from committing violence or threatening violence.

SCIUTTO: I mean that's a remarkable statement to say that the sitting president you believe is inciting this kind of violence. And I just -- I just wonder how you could then cast your vote for him in 15 days' time.

ROONEY: Well, like I say, I'm -- I've got a very open mind about that, and I'm continuing to study it. And I have some disagreements with the way the administration has conducted things in the last three and a half, four years.

SCIUTTO: You've heard some of your Republican colleagues, among them Ben Sasse, in a conversation with constituents, say that they fear a Republican blood bath on Election Day. And I know these things are hard to predict. But you're a politician. You've talked to a lot of voters. Do you have a similar fear coming up in two weeks' time?

ROONEY: Well, first of all, I really don't want to be a politician. I like being a business leader. And --

SCIUTTO: I know, to your credit.

ROONEY: And those are much -- much more interesting careers.

But the fact is, we got slayed pretty good in the suburbs and among women and things in 2018. And I don't see anything that's going to change that now. The same positions that got us the thrashing that we got then still obtain. SCIUTTO: Understood.

Well, Congressman Rooney, we always enjoy speaking to you on this broadcast. You're always welcome. And if you don't mind, when you've made your decision, you're welcome back here to come on and share it and explain it.

ROONEY: I appreciate that.

SCIUTTO: All right, best of luck to you.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:25]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

Well, a record 27 million Americans have already cast their ballots ahead of Election Day. Today is the first day of early voting in a number of states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho and North Dakota.

SCIUTTO: Yes, voter apathy, ain't seeing that this year. Long lines already forming for the first day of in-person voting in a majority of Florida counties. This is the picture in Broward County, south Florida, where people are waiting despite the pouring rain. They're getting out, they're voting. That's good news.

HARLOW: I think that picture tells us so much, Rosa.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: It's a little sunnier, but still raining there.

What are we seeing in terms of turnout?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Poppy and Jim.

Yes, we talked to several people who say that they voted here at this location in 2016 and they say that the lines are longer this time.

So, walk with me. Let me show you around. You'll see that because of COVID there are markers on the ground to facilitate social distancing. And you can see that the line twirls around.

Now, this time around, there are more than 14.4 million registered voters in the state of Florida. That's 1.5 million more than in 2016. The breakdown is very interesting because registered Republicans gained more than 618,000 registered voters here in this state. Democrats gained more than 425,000.

And here's the fascinating thing. The no party affiliation bloc gained more than 663,000 voters since 2016. Now we know that Florida is notorious for having elections that are won by razor thin margins. And so that no party affiliation bloc is very interesting to all the political scientists that are following it here in the state of Florida.

[09:55:06]

But, of course, we all know it doesn't matter who registers to vote, it's who shows up to vote.

Now, we talked to one woman who tells us why it was important for her to be here on day one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ODALYS PEREZ, FLORIDA VOTER: I want my vote to count. And you hear so much negativity, back and forth about the absentee ballots and stuff that I didn't trust it. I didn't trust the process. Which I've done it before, I just -- for this election, I just figured it's the president, let me just go in, in person and give my vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, so far, more than 2.4 million mail-in ballots have been turned in here in the state of Florida. That's only 261,000 shy of all of the mail-in ballots from 2016.

Now, here's the breakdown of the 2.4 million that have already been cast so far. Thirty percent of those are from registered Republicans, 49 percent from registered Democrats, and 20 percent from that no party affiliation.

And, Jim and Poppy, I spoke to a political scientist who says that that's what Florida needs to look at this year because there is an increasing number of individuals who are turning their backs to both Republicans and Democrats.

Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Interesting.

HARLOW: Interesting. Yes. Really interesting reporting.

Rosa, thank you for being out there despite the rain. We appreciate it very much.

Well, the final presidential debate, it's coming. It's later this week. We have special, live coverage starting Thursday evening at 7:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)