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Early Voting USA, Record Turnouts; Why The Election Hangs On The Number 270; U.S. Daily Infections Top New Levels; British P.M. Imposes Tough Restrictions On Manchester; Lockdowns: No Refuge from Abuse; Trump Won Michigan in 2016 but it Now Leans Biden; Witnesses Say Nigerian Forces Opened Fire on Protesters: India Struggles with COVID-19 and Pollution Crises; Cathay Pacific Announces 5,900 Job Cuts Globally; U.S. Justice Department Files Antitrust Suit vs. Google. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 21, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from studio seven at CNN's world headquarters here in Atlanta.
And ahead this hour. Americans are voting early in record numbers. Tens of millions of ballots are in as this presidential election campaigns heads into the final stretch.
Northern rebellion. Manchester's mayor at loggerheads with the prime minister over his new tier three pandemic restrictions.
And later, the latest economic blow from the coronavirus. A major airline announces thousands of jobs will go.
VAUSE: The U.S. presidential campaign is entering the final stretch. And just as it began with the messages and actions of Trump and Biden, a study in contrasts.
Donald Trump returned to the battleground state of Pennsylvania Tuesday. During a nighttime rally he warned a Biden administration would end fracking and kill the American Dream.
Earlier he called Biden a criminal, urged an investigation by the attorney general but did not specify what should actually be investigated.
The president also abruptly ended an interview with "60 Minutes" on "CBS" falsely claiming reporter Lesley Stahl would not wear a face mask. The taped segment is yet to go to air.
Joe Biden spent the day away from the campaign preparing instead for Thursday's final debate. His wife, Dr. Jill Biden, made a number of campaign stops in Michigan.
Meantime, early voting now underway in another big battleground state, that's Wisconsin. And from there, here's CNN's Abby Phillip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Don't procrastinate. Vote early.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Just two weeks to go and it appears that's the way many Americans are feeling about this 2020 election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LATINA WILLIAMS, WISCONSIN VOTER: I'd rather get it done and over with and do it early. That way I know I've voted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: So far more than 32 million ballots have been cast nationwide, whether by mail or in person.
On the first day of in-person voting in Wisconsin, voters braving hours-long lines and rising COVID numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM SERAK, WISCONSIN VOTER: If you don't come and do it, you don't have a right to complain. Come and voice your opinion. That's what America's about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Huge lines snaking around entire buildings or down city blocks becoming a familiar sight all over the country. Many voters even lining up before sunrise, rain or shine.
Pending legal challenges in several states, including some battleground states, are far from over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN PETRY, WISCONSIN VOTER: It's one of the most important elections, obviously. There's so much riding on the line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: In Pennsylvania, the supreme court ruling on Monday the state can count in mail-in ballots if they're sent in by election day and received within three days even if they don't have a legible postmark.
Something the president is already attacking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We got a ruling yesterday that was ridiculous, where they can count ballots after the election's over. What kind of a thing -- so what does that mean?
STEVE DOOCY, ANCHOR, "BREAKFAST WITH FOX & FRIENDS": John Roberts.
TRUMP: We're going to wait until after November 3rd, and start announcing states. It's crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Pennsylvania state law says the counting of absentee ballots cannot begin until election day. Which combined with the court ruling allowing ballots to be received three days after election day means we may not know the results of the presidential race for several days after November 3rd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH SHAPIRO, PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: You won't have the precise number, certainly, for a few days. But I think you're going to have a real good sense of where things are going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Meanwhile, in North Carolina the state elections board now extending the deadline to accept mail-in ballots postmarked by election day through November 12th. More than a week after the election.
But the legal battle is still ongoing.
As of this morning, in North Carolina, 1.9 million ballots had been cast. That represents 25 percent of the state's registered voters.
And in Florida, voters are turning out in droves on the first day of early in-person voting. The state says more than 366,000 Floridians cast votes Monday.
By this morning, Florida was just shy of 3 million ballots cast overall. The same time four years ago, Florida had just over 1.6 million total ballots cast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: If you're not going to vote, don't complain for the next four years. That's the way I look at it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Abby Phillip. CNN, Washington.
[01:05:00]
VAUSE: The road to the White House is not as simple as which candidate gets the most votes. Ask Hillary Clinton about that. The winner is decided by the electoral college. Each state sends a
delegation to Washington based on population and the number of votes each candidate receives.
And that's where this number comes in, 270. Two hundred and seventy is the number of electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
CNN's John King explains how Donald Trump could still win this election despite trailing in all the opinion polls.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Two weeks out it is advantage Biden without a doubt, a big national lead. But things do get a little interesting when you go state by state, as we must do, in the final stretch.
Let's take a look at some of the most interesting dynamics. Number one, our national poll of polls.
Yes, I'm the one who always says don't pay attention to the national polls when we get this close. But when it's a double-digit lead, as it is now, you should pay attention.
Right now, advantage Joe Biden, an 11-point national lead. That tells you he is favored, significantly so, to win this election.
But again, let's take a look as we go through the battlegrounds. Let's look at the state of play.
CNN's poll of polls. This is averages of recent polls in a number of battleground states, 10 states we view as the most important competitive states.
You average out the polls so you're not investing in just one poll.
Look what you get. Biden lead in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, pretty significant. Right? Eight, eight and nine.
But then look at these other seven states here. The president up a little bit in Texas, very close. Biden up maybe up a little in Ohio. Georgia, essentially a tie, a little Biden lead.
Iowa is a tie. North Carolina, plus two for Biden, that's essentially a tie. Florida, plus three. Arizona, plus four.
Very competitive, very close heading into the final stretch, right. So what does that mean?
Look where we are right now, remember those 10 states. We already lean Texas red. What if the president comes back -- you saw how close it was in Arizona and he gets Arizona.
The president -- Iowa was a toss up, let's say the president wins it, perfectly plausible. Ohio as well, has Republican DNA.
He won North Carolina last time, it's close, let's give it to the president. And Georgia and Florida.
Biden's competitive in all those places but what I just did is completely plausible.
What does it do to the numbers? 279 to 258. Biden's still leading but the president in play.
So then we come down to this again; Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. We come down to them again -- and as I noted earlier, let's take a closer look.
Of those 10 battlegrounds, those are the states where Biden's leads are pretty comfortable. The president at 43 in all states, Biden above 50 in all three of those states.
So this is the strategic choice and the spending choice for Joe Biden. Do you just spend here or do you try to go bold?
If this scenario played out, watch this. If that played out and the president won Pennsylvania, game over. Four more years for Donald Trump.
Let's say Joe Biden holds onto Pennsylvania. Well, the president could win Michigan again. Four more years for Donald Trump, under this scenario.
If it was just Wisconsin, if Biden held Michigan, just Wisconsin would not be enough but it would be 269, 268.
And what if the president won Maine second congressional district? If we get that, you get the vaunted 269, 269 tie. I'm not trying to suggest that will happen.
I'm just suggesting if you're Joe Biden and you're looking at the state of play right now and how tight those other battlegrounds are, you focus on these states.
And the reason you focus on those states is because you remember, four years ago, it was those same states right up there -- those three, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin -- that made Donald Trump president.
If Joe Biden wants to be president, he has to flip those back to blue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: It's important to remember in the U.S. national elections are held in a state by state basis.
In other words, it's not one big election but rather 50 separate elections with 50 different set of rules and regulations which often are applied differently from county to county.
Twenty years ago, this country was left on a knife's edge for weeks as the supreme court decided that different counties using different methods of vote counting was a constitutional violation. For the record, yes, that was Bush V. Gore. And what could be yet to come in the days and weeks after this
presidential election could make the Bush V. Gore bitter legal battle look like a church picnic.
For more, we're joined now by CNN election law analyst Rick Hasen in Los Angeles.
So, Rick, good to see you. Thank you for being with us.
RICHARD HASEN, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST, AUTHOR "ELECTION MELTDOWN": Great to be with you.
VAUSE: I should mention you're the author of "Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy."
And with that out of the way, John King just explained a short time ago how the road to the presidency will once again run through Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin.
But of those three, just in terms of legal action and court decisions already made before election day, do you see Pennsylvania now as sort of shaping up as potentially ground zero in determining the outcome of the election? Will Pennsylvania fill the role, I guess, played 20 years ago by Florida?
HASEN: Well, of course, there's no way to know until election day. But Pennsylvania is the state I have my eye on the most.
In part because the polls there are the closest among those three Midwestern states and in part because there's been just a ton of litigation, including litigation that went to the supreme court that was just decided this week over the receipt of late arriving ballots.
[01:10:00]
And it's pretty clear that the Trump Campaign is putting a lot of litigation effort into Pennsylvania in the hopes that potentially it will be close enough in Pennsylvania, that, if possible, they could try to litigate their way to a win.
VAUSE: As a general observation, is it fair to say that underlying all of these electoral litigation challenges, these legal actions, it's a basic question of should voting be made easier or harder?
HASEN: Well, I think that's part of it. You know, we're trying to vote in the middle of a pandemic.
And so something that's happened is since states have made it easier for people to vote in the midst of the pandemic and that has caused Republicans to complain that the rules are going to open up the doors to fraud. So far the courts have rejected that.
And the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in expanded the rules relied on the state constitution and said we really need to provide opportunities for people to vote during the pandemic. Democrats have gone after places where they haven't loosened up the rules and there the claim is the constitution requires them to.
And the supreme court has pretty much been saying we're going to leave this to the states, the states really have to decide how to balance health and safety concerns against how easy or difficult it is for people to be able to vote in the midst of the pandemic.
VAUSE: You touched on this earlier but the Biden team has created a special litigation unit; on the Republican side they're called "Lawyers for Trump." At the end of the day thousands of lawyers are spread out across this country on election day.
Here's an example of how laws and court decisions already differ from state to state.
"Supreme Court allows Pennsylvania to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day." That's the big decision you were talking about.
Meanwhile, "Michigan Ballots That Arrive After Election Day Will Not Be Counted," Court Rules. That latter decision was in Michigan State appeals court.
But would that not be impacted in any way by this decision from the supreme court about Pennsylvania? And why is that?
HASEN: Well, so you said at the beginning that we have really highly decentralized elections. We have something like 10,500 different electoral jurisdictions in the United States with different roles.
When it comes to what the rules are in the state, state courts are going to reach different conclusions based on their own statutes and based on their own constitutions. And so what explains the difference in Michigan and Pennsylvania are how the state courts interpreted their own rules.
And generally, as I said, the supreme court is letting those state rules stand even though it creates a kind of disparity across states in terms of when you can mail your ballots and when they can be counted. If they arrive after election day.
VAUSE: Let's assume the polls are correct and that Donald Trump is a one-term president, he's replaced by Joe Biden and Trump is a lame duck president between election day and inauguration next year.
Is there anything which is actually on paper written down as law which limits what a president can and cannot do during that period of time? Or is it all just part of the norms and traditions which have really have done nothing to restrain Donald Trump over the last four years?
HASEN: Well, no. There's no power that the president would have before Biden might be declared the winner, officially or unofficially, versus the power Trump would have afterwards.
He maintains his power as president so long as he's capable of being in that office until noon on January 20th, 2021 if he loses the election.
And so, we have seen Trump break a lot of norms. It would not be surprising to see him break more norms.
One idea that I've heard floated is if he loses, he could try to pardon not only his friends and family but try to pardon himself. And that's going to be a new topic of discussion. But that's a number of steps ahead.
First, Biden would have to win the election.
VAUSE: Yes. Maybe not borrowing problems from the future right now is a good idea. But it's something worth thinking about.
Rick, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.
HASEN: Thank you.
VAUSE: Deadly coronavirus infections are soaring in the U.S. to levels not seen in months.
Compared to the previous week, 31 states are seeing an increase in confirmed cases.
As CNN's Erica Hill reports, the number of hospital admissions is also way up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The dreaded second wave now washing over the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-ILL): Nearly every region in the state has seen an increase in COVID-related hospitalizations over the last week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Illinois among the 42 states reporting a rise in hospitalizations; 14 hitting new peaks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Everybody ready?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: It's not just hospitals setting records. Nationwide, the virus is surging.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV MIKE DEWINE (R-OHIO): These numbers are grim. They are going in the wrong direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Undergrads at the University of Michigan now under a stay-at- home order for the next two weeks. County health officials say students account for more than 60 percent of new cases in the area.
Michigan is among the 31 states seeing a rise in new cases over the past week.
Just one, Hawaii, seeing a decline.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER: Over the next five or six months, I think up through February or March of next year, we are heading into the worst part of this pandemic for this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:15:00]
HILL: New case numbers are typically lower on Mondays. This week, the U.S. added more than 58,000, topping a Monday record set three months ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CENTER OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH & POLICY: For the first time in many areas, we're seeing over half the cases having no recognized risk exposure. Meaning they didn't know somebody that was infected.
So it shows you how prevalent or how common this virus transmission is in our communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: That silent spread new concern and advice about the holidays.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LEANA WHEN, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: It's unnatural for us to think oh, those people that we love and trust could also be carrying the virus. But this is a silent killer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: The head of the National Institutes of Health, the latest expert to announce his own family won't be gathering.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: For the first time in 27 years there will be no family Thanksgiving. It is just not safe to take that kind of chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: But staying safe over the next several months can be lonely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: There's just going to be a huge impact on mental health. You're going to get sad, you're going to get scared, you're going to get depressed. This is a normal response to a very stressful situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Channeling that stress into exercise, meditation or virtual gatherings can help.
And there's some encouraging news. A new study finds ventilation including open windows, spacing, desk shields and hand washing greatly reduce the spread in classrooms.
Hopefully, allowing more scenes like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Good morning, how are you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: A bright spot, amid an uncertain future.
One thing most health experts agree on? The next three weeks will likely be difficult especially as temperatures drop.
Colorado state epidemiologist says they are actually in their fall wave. Her biggest concern? Hospitals. She says one in every four hospital beds is now being used by a COVID-19 patient.
In New York, Erica Hill, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Britain's prime minister has ordered tough new coronavirus restrictions for the northern city of Manchester.
The mayor, though, has complained bitterly about the unilateral action from Westminster which comes after both sides failed to reach an agreement on government financial assistance.
From Manchester, here's CNN's Selma Abdelaziz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SELMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to unilaterally impose tougher new restrictions on the city of Manchester after a bitter political dispute between the leadership here in this city and officials in Downing Street over their plans to raise the coronavirus alert level of this city to very high.
That would mean shutting down pubs, bars and virtually banning any households from mixing together.
There was a midday deadline on Tuesday imposed by the government. Of course, that deadline came and passed with no resolution.
The mayor, Andy Burnham, actually happened to be in front of the cameras at the moment he realized that the restrictions would go into force or will go into force on Friday at midnight, local time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ANDREW BURNHAM, MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM: I mean it's brutal, to be honest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he had hoped to reach a deal that the best way to fight this surge in cases is through cooperation but that he had to put these restrictions forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Not to act would put Manchester's NHS and the lives of many of Manchester's residents lives at risk.
Despite the failure to reach an agreement, I hope the mayor and council leaders in Greater Manchester will now work with us to implement these measures.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: Now Mayor Andy Burnham has called on his residents to comply by these restrictions, to be law-abiding citizens even though he did not reach a deal.
But this really does set a precedent for the country. The City of Manchester has been locked in this dispute with the central government for 10 days. For 10 days politicians have been bickering over a financial package, over the deals and the minutiae of these restrictions while coronavirus cases continue to surge in the city.
So the question is what is the strategy? Does this regional approach mean that each town, city and region can negotiate its own deal while the virus spreads through its population? That is, of course, the concern.
And it's part of the reason why scientists have called for a nationwide lockdown instead.
The other concern and perhaps the most important one is one of compliance. Will a city like Manchester that feels that rules are being imposed upon it from the central government actually follow through with these restrictions? All of that is yet to be seen.
Selma Abdelaziz. CNN, Manchester.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Italy is once again trying to contain an outbreak of the coronavirus. Even though the past two weeks has seen a steep spike in new cases, the deputy health minister told CNN the outbreak remains under control.
Especially compared to the first wave when Italy was, for a time, the epicenter of the pandemic. And he says hospitals are now much better equipped.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERPAOLO SILERI, DEPUTY HEALTH MINISTER, ITALY: I think if you have an increase in number of ICU beds that are occupied there you need to do something.
Right now, ICU beds that are occupied they're close to 800. It's a very low number compared to what we observed in March when we had more than 4,000 beds that were occupied simultaneously for coronavirus.
[01:20:00]
But this is not true everywhere. (Inaudible) some areas where there is an increasing number of cases and an increased number of admissions in the hospital. I believe there another lockdown may be helpful to --
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Right.
SILERI: -- (inaudible) reduce the diffusion of the virus.
What's happening in the north of Europe, for example, in France, in the U.K., something that will happen also in Italy. They reached almost 20,000 cases, 15-, 20,000 cases. And this will happen even in Italy.
And since we need to survive with this virus and go ahead for the next few months (inaudible).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: As for a nationwide lockdown, the minister says that's not necessary preferring more focused regional restrictions.
The Campagna region which is home to Naples will be under curfew from Friday. So to Lombardy region, that's actually on Thursday.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The northern Italian region of Lombardy is about to introduce an overnight curfew.
Beginning Thursday evening, an 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew will be in effect in a region with a population of about 10 million people.
Only those who have to go out for reasons of work and health will be allowed to go out of their homes. It's not clear how long this curfew will be in place. Also, another proposal on the table but not yet approved is closing shopping malls over the weekend.
And of course, it was Lombardy that was the worst hit region of Italy in the first wave of this pandemic.
Now Sunday evening Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte made it clear in a press conference that he was going to leave it up to local officials now to decide specific measures to try to stop this latest surge in cases.
It is clear the Italian government wants to avoid a repeat of the more than two-month lockdown this country went through earlier this year.
I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN. Reporting from Naples.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, still to come. India is second only to the U.S. in the number of coronavirus cases. But now there is a new risk factor; India's pollution is getting worse potentially making more people more susceptible to the virus. More on that in a moment.
Also, staying at home can be perilous in a pandemic lockdown for domestic abuse victims. Survivors share their stories with CNN in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Ireland is now the first E.U. country to re-impose a coronavirus lockdown. Several cities around the world are weighing heavier restrictions including lockdowns and stay-at-home orders to try and slow the rate of infection.
But for domestic abuse victims, staying at home with their abuser comes with its own dangers.
CNN's Isa Suarez has their stories.
[01:25:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I loved this man more than anything. And I left everything for him.
ISA SUAREZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Away from her home in morocco and beguiled by her new husband --
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: He make me fall in love with him slowly.
SUAREZ: -- this 32-year-old woman, who prefers to remain anonymous tells me her partner became a different man mid-pandemic.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: He say to me you have to bring four thousand a month. SUAREZ: With the economy in a deep recession and a frustrated husband unable to work his usual job as a taxi driver, she says her life became his to control.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: He hit me too many time. And the last time he gave me two slap that he damaged my face. I was losing my mind because you cannot trust anyone. And the person you give him all your life, he did these things. From here, life is finish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUAREZ: She's one of seven other women at this Iranian Kurdish women's refuge who left home during the pandemic. With many more waiting for a room and a guiding hand.
The manager here tells me COVID-19 has proven to be the perfect storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REFUGE MANAGER, IKWRO: They were intensely living together with the perpetrators. There was no time for them to breathe, no time to see friends, relatives, go out. Perpetrators has used their conceived control more authoritarian ways.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUAREZ: According to "Women's Aid" April survey, 78 percent of women living with abusers felt they could not leave or get away because of the pandemic.
Those that do escape face further anxieties. With a backlog in the criminal justice system and limited access to support services or safe havens.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Everything definitely taking longer, more uncertainty, more insecurity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUAREZ: This 40-year-old Iranian only recently managed to escape a husband of four years.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER (Foreign language, captioned): When life was very difficult for me with my husband, one time I tried to leave but didn't manage.
SUAREZ: Not even an attempted suicide that left her in the hospital cleared her path. She did eventually escape just days ago. And now tells me the pandemic only made it worse. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER (Foreign language, captioned): When we were
arguing with each other, we couldn't take time apart, one of us couldn't leave for a few days.
SUAREZ: He was violent to you, did he also sexually abuse you?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER (Foreign language, captioned): Yes. I can't talk about it anymore because right now I'm seeing a therapist.
SUAREZ: Did the pandemic reveal the real man?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUAREZ: Harrowing tales of intimate terrorism. At an uncertain time of heightened isolation.
Isa Suarez. CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: If you know or someone -- if you, rather, or someone you know is affected by domestic violence, there is help.
One website out there is endvawnow.com, End Violence Against Women.
Still to come. Turning the state blue -- turning the state of Michigan blue. Again, one women has made it her mission to get voters to the polls to
avoid another narrow win by Donald Trump.
(CNN HIGHLIGHT)
BRIAN CHESKY, CEO, AIRBNB: People are still yearning to travel but they're traveling differently than they used to. They're not crossing borders, they're not traveling for business.
But what they're doing is they're getting in a car and they're going two or three hundred miles to nearby destinations and they're staying in homes.
What the guests have told us is they'd rather be in the private space of an Airbnb than crowded hotel lobbies or crowded elevators.
And one of the things we did, we brought in the former surgeon general of the United States, Dr. Vik Murthy, and we worked with him to develop an enhanced cleaning protocol. Which is basically cleaning guidelines the host can get trained on and go through.
More than one million listings have already gone through the cleaning guideline. And we're working really, really hard for this.
But what we're hearing is people don't want to stay in crowded cities, they want to have a home to themselves. And this is why I think homes are becoming a really, really popular way for people to travel. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:50]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Early voting is underway in record levels in the United States with election day now less than two weeks away. Long lines, rainy weather didn't really matter in Florida, where more than 360,000 have cast their ballots on the first day of in-person early voting.
The swing state of Wisconsin also began early voting on Tuesday. CNN's poll of polls has President Trump trailing Joe Biden there.
Also in Pennsylvania and Michigan, two other big battleground states, Donald Trump, who won Michigan by a very thin margin in 2016 appealing to white working class voters, this time Biden is doing well with white, less educated voters in the state. He is also banking on a heavy turnout of African-American voters in the suburbs of Detroit.
CNN's Kate Bolduan caught up with black voters in Michigan and filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WENDY CALDWELL-LIDDELL, FOUNDER, MOBILIZE DETROIT: Ok. So let's say you aren't registered. So let you two registered ok.
I think that the apathy has just grown and has JUST become so pervasive in our communities, because people are just trying to survive that we have to get back to empowering people.
Let's cycle back this way.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 29-year-old Wendy Caldwell-Liddell is a woman with no shortage of energy. She doesn't work for any campaign, but since August, she says she's spent three days a week every week between her full-time job and taking care of two kids using that energy to try and convince fellow Detroit their vote matters.
CALDWELL-LIDDELL: At this point, this is our survival now. What happens politically is a part of our survival and there is no escaping that.
BOLDUAN: 10,704. What does that number mean to you?
CALDWELL-LIDDELL: Is that how many votes Trump won by?
BOLDUAN: That's exactly how many votes.
CALDWELL-LIDDELL: So that number. It hurts. It hurts.
BOLDUAN: Wayne County, which includes Detroit, went for Hillary Clinton by a wide margin in 2016. But she got about 76,000 fewer votes there than Obama did in 2012. Remember, Trump won the entire state by just 10,704 votes.
Are you voting for Joe Biden or are you or more voting against Donald Trump?
CALDWELL-LIDDELL: 80 percent against Donald Trump, 20 percent for Joe Biden. I would say that.
BOLDUAN: What does that mean?
F1: It means that I know that as a voter and as a black woman that there's a job that I have to do in order to get a representative who will come close to protecting my people in office. But I am not necessarily excited about having another representative there who, really, does not inherently understand the needs of our community.
BOLDUAN: Markita Blanchard, like Wendy, has lived in Detroit her whole life. But at 63 years old, she sees the choice this election a bit differently.
MARKITA BLANCHARD, BIDEN SUPPORTER: I'm 100 percent voting for Biden.
BOLDUAN: Does Biden make you excited?
BLANCHARD: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, he does. His enthusiasm, his past record -- it's like a charge.
BOLDUAN: President Trump says often that he has done more for the black community --
BLANCHARD: That's -- go ahead.
BOLDUAN: No, I don't even need to finish.
BLANCHARD: He is full of (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You know what I'm saying? He has not done nothing. I've had people say, well, he's not my president. I didn't vote. I said well, did you vote at all. They say no, I didn't. Well, I say, if you did not vote, you did vote for him.
BOLDUAN: Amber Davis is one of those Detroiters who voted for Obama in 2012, then didn't vote at all in 2016.
Why didn't you vote in 2016?
AMBER DAVIS, MICHIGAN VOTER: I didn't want Trump, and I didn't want Hillary. I didn't really care who won that election.
BOLDUAN: So what is your plan this election?
DAVIS: I don't like Biden, but I'm voting for Biden.
The coronavirus, everything that's going on is just horrible. So he's got to go.
BOLDUAN: One path to flipping Michigan blue again and a critical pursuit of the Biden campaign is getting those voters who sat out four years ago to show up this time.
[01:34:54] BOLDUAN: And a sign the Trump campaign knows this, it has an office
right down the road from the Democrats specifically targeting black voters in Detroit.
How unusual is that to see, forget Trump, but a Republican presidential campaign open an office in here (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never seen it. I've never seen it ever, ever before.
BOLDUAN: But what does it tell you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The importance of not only Michigan but Detroit in the black vote because the parties -- both parties need us, really.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to help me?
BOLDUAN: Everyone always talks about on TV, they always talk about how black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party.
CALDWELL-LIDDELL: We are. We are. Black women are the backbone.
BOLDUAN: Do you think the Democratic Party takes you for granted?
F1: Absolutely. Absolutely. they take us for granted because they know that black women are going to help them get the big wins they need where it matters, but they also know that they can give us the bare minimum knowing that we aren't going to choose the other side.
BOLDUAN: What does that say about the country?
F1: It says we've still got a long way to go, when the backbone of the country is the most neglected.
BOLDUAN: This is a slice of the electorate, of course, not necessarily predictive of how the election is going to swing. But regardless of who wins, what is clear here, both parties have a lot of work to do to either hold on to or win over the support of these passionate, reliable voters, black women.
Kate Bolduan, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In Lagos, Nigeria protest against police brutality turned violent as eyewitnesses say soldiers opened fire on demonstrators.
Witnesses tell CNN multiple people were shot. The gunfire went on for at least 15 to 30 minutes.
CNN's Eleni Giokos now joins us live for more on this.
So where' here in a situation where there is a 24-hour nationwide curfew which has been put in place Tuesday. Was that kind of a circuit breaker here at least bringing a pause to the unrest? What's the latest. ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. In fact, that was the reason that we saw an escalation of what happened specifically in Lekki at the toll gate. And remember this is ground zero And remember this is ground zero for the protestors and demonstrations that started the in-so campaign against police brutality and brute force.
And we are hearing from eyewitnesses that the very thing that they were protesting against they experienced in many hours on Tuesday night. This is what we're hear. That people were shot at. We are hearing that ammunition continued for between 15 to 30 minutes and that there were bodies lying on the ground.
These harrowing experiences have been echoed by many people that we've spoken to, many friends and families have been victims of this incident. And importantly, John, from what we've also been seeing live-streamed from Nigerian celebrities or pleas for medical assistance.
People were actually barricaded into a small section on Lekki Bridge overnight. Also important to note here that this really escalated when the lights and the streetlights and CCTV cameras were removed by national security forces in Nigeria in that area.
Many of the protesters say that this actually caused the escalation and that protesters were shot at directly.
Essentially, we've actually also seen a lot of this protest action turning violent in many parts of the country and that's why a curfew was in state.
But now Amnesty International says that they cannot confirm the fatalities, but they've heard credible as well as disturbing reports of brute force being used by police.
VAUSE: So Eleni, if we look at, you know, the reasons for these protests, which were about police brutality which is a fairly generic term. What seems to be the reason here is a police squad which specializes in everything which you would not expect from the police?
GIOKOS: Yes, exactly. And look this army -- this part of the police force was actually disbanded on the 11th of October. That was one of the demands from protesters. But they say that it's not enough.
A new unit was actually put together, they say, the speed of which it was reconstructed it's very curious. Is this just a rebranding with the same people, no real new training has been conducted.
And they are also asking for prosecutions. They're accusing this specific unit of harassment, kidnapping as well as extortion. And what's interesting is that This protest action has been ongoing in Nigeria for around two weeks now. And it really spread from Lekki into other areas of the country as well.
[01:39:42]
GIOKOS: We've also heard government saying that there's been vandalism by opportunists operating under the banner of the End SARS campaign, targeting specifically private sector infrastructure as well as government offices as well. And that is why you've seen curfews come into effect.
But this is going to be an important turning point, John, in terms of the way that protesters and average Nigerians are seeing the way that government is responding to the calls of protesters that of course, started out very peacefully.
They're saying that they disappointed, that they are upset, and, of course, that they're very angry. And that is the sense that we are getting from people on the ground.
Look today, we're going to be hearing from the Lagos state governor to find out exactly just how many people were impacted. They have confirmed that there had been hospitalizations but they may tell you I also received so many calls from executive and business people than I worked with in the past very closely. And they are traumatized and they are upset at the latest developments.
Now, it's going to be an important message from governments in the next few hours. The (INAUDIBLE) and Nigerians, as a whole, are waiting to hear about the next steps.
So it's definitely one to watch.
VAUSE: Yes, absolutely. Eleni, thank you. Eleni Giokos there in Johannesburg live with the very latest.
India is already dealing with the world's second highest number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus, more than 7.5 million and counting. But now comes another crisis and that's increasing levels of toxic air pollution.
CNN's Vedika Sud has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While India struggles to control its COVID-19 caseload, currently second only to the U.S., another health crisis has impacted Delhi and surrounding states.
The iconic India Gate shrouded in small in the early of the morning. The city's worsening air pollution has walkers and cyclists gasping for breath.
MAANAS, DELHI RESIDENT: Earlier, I would ride my cycle without a mask. But now I can feel something troubling my throat.
NAVEEN JAIN, DELHI RESIDENT: This didn't happen earlier. I would go for walks during lockdown. I didn't feel any discomfort then, I feel it now.
SUD: Farmers burning the residue of their crops tens to make the air quality even worse at this time of year, along with all the usual pollution drivers like cars and industrial emissions and the burning of garbage.
According to India's pollution control board, Delhi's air quality index in the first two weeks of October was worse than the same period in 2018 and 2019.
Environmentalists say the government needs to be more proactive.
VIMLENDU JHA, ENVIRONMENTALIST: Delhi's air is not only polluted for these three months. Delhi has a bad air day for almost 250 days out of 365 days and therefore, we cannot wake up only in the month of October and think of a solution. We have to think of a solution which is 365 days or for the next five years.
SUD: Medical experts have expressed concern over the impact of rising air pollution levels during the pandemic.
DR. RANDEEP GULERIA, DIRECTOR AIIMS (ph): There are studies which have looked at a correlation between the rising levels of pollution and COVID-19 cases. And these studies tend to show that if there is one unit rise in tm 2.5, you can have a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
SUD: With no immediate solution in sight, it is a double whammy for the people of Delhi and bordering states.
They are now banking on these masks not only to avoid contracting the virus, but critical respiratory illnesses as well.
Vedika Sud, CNN -- New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, the biggest legal challenge to the big tech in more than two decades.
When we come back, the Justice Department claims Google is acting illegally to try and crush the competition.
[01:46:47]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Cathay Pacific, the latest carrier to eliminate jobs, a lot of jobs, about 8,500 positions worldwide.
CNN's Selina Wang is live now for us in Hong Kong.
This is huge. What -- about a quarter of the entire head count for the company, includes an entire regional airline.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, that's correct. It amounts to about 25 percent of the global workforce. These are the largest cuts in Cathay Pacific's history. More than 5,000 jobs being cut in Hong Kong, hundreds overseas. We have seen carriers around the world get slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's been especially rough in Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific was struggling even before the pandemic because of the Hong Kong protests that was significantly deterring mainland tourists from coming in to the city.
It did receive a $5 billion bail-out package led by the Hong Kong government over the summer, but that hasn't been enough. It's still been losing hundreds of millions of dollars per month. And in the words of the CEO of Cathay Pacific Group, that is just simply unsustainable.
If you compare that to some of the cuts around the world, Qantas has announced it's going to be laying off about 30 percent of its staff. Singapore Airlines about 20 percent. And in the U.S., of course, airlines are starting to lay off tens of thousands of employees despite the fact that the industry had received this $50 billion bail- out package approved by Congress earlier this year.
And the International Air Transport Association is expecting this pain that these carriers are dealing with to continue. They don't expect passenger traffic to get back to pre-COVID levels until 2024.
And when it comes to Cathay Pacific Group they are still going to be losing a lot of cash every month despite all of these cuts and all of these layoffs. The CEO said in a statement that, quote, "The global pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on aviation, and the hard truth is we must fundamentally restructure the group to survive," John.
VAUSE: Selina, hard times clearly for Cathay Pacific and all the airlines. Thanks for the update.
Well, the Trump administration is taking on Google in the largest anti-trust case against the tech company in more than 20 years. In the lawsuit the Justice Department claims claim Google has stifled competition in online search and search advertising.
An example given is Google's practice of paying billions to be the default search engine on smartphones. Google says this lawsuit is deeply flawed.
CNN's John Defterios is in Abu Dhabi with more. You know, the antitrust has a long history in the U.S. that go all the way back to the oil industry and the railroads. And it's all about you know basically breaking up these big companies, so that they -- the competition is not stifled.
I guess the question is, how strong is the case that the U.S. government has here against Google? And what's the likelihood that Google could be broken up?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well one would make the case John that this is happening very late, because of the dominance. This is a brand that is synonymous with search. That's how much of a player it is. And you have to go back to 1998 with a challenge against Microsoft for bundling the Windows package with his search engine which has spread worldwide, by the way. And that is the threat here. It's not only in the United States. But the European Union, the Japanese authorities, and Chinese authorities would do the same once the U.S. has raised a flag.
As you suggested, the twist here is, there's actually accusations of paying to be the default search engine, with the phone manufacturers themselves. That is a very strong charge.
Let's put this in a framework of a challenge from the Washington Belt Way against Silicon Valley. And in this administration, by the way, Silicon Valley is not popular. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL IVES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: I think we could start to see more and more pressure against these big tech giants, from business model tweaks to obviously break up to the more extreme.
I think this is going to be a long battle, but ultimately, this is the first step in which is going to be getting many chapters against big tech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: So you can already hear the narrative changing, John. And a little bit unusual is that we have 11 states involved in the case as well from Arkansas to Texas.
[01:50:04]
DEFTERIOS: I don't want to get too political about this, but this is the base for Donald Trump, right.
So the southeast, all the way to the heart of the southwest.
VAUSE: Don't want to get too political, but politics seems to be invading everything 13 days before an election. And that is the timing which, again -- is that a curious issue here that, you know, that this legal action is coming before millions of Americans actually vote for a new president.
DEFTERIOS: Yes, it's hard to avoid that subject. And when we talk about the bigger play here, it's about breakup of some of the behemoths in Silicon Valley.
So we start with Google itself. If you package Google with Facebook, and then the other names that come up or Amazon and Apple. But the first two control about 80 to 85 percent of online advertising. They crowded out others.
And I've heard this for year, myself, John saying that, if you're a start up and you're trying to bust in to the online kind of market. it's very difficult to unlock the power that Google and the other players hold right now so. So this is a major challenge
But you also should keep mind these cases usually take about four or five years to unwind. So what does Google say about it itself? Kent Walker is the senior vice president of global affairs that it relies on quote "dubious anti-trust arguments.
But it does, John, I think if you take a step back, wonder why this has been going on for nearly 20 years, and particularly in the last decade, with all that dominance and the pervasiveness of the mobile phone and search, why wasn't it raised before, and can you break up companies of this size, and in a streamline fashion which doesn't undermine the innovation of the United States that's the leader in this face (ph).
VAUSE: Interesting times. John, thank you. John Defterios there in Abu Dhabi.
DEFTERIOS: Yes.
VAUSE: Appreciate it.
We'll take a short break.
When we come back, a mission 10 years in the making, an extraordinary one. A tiny spacecraft and an ancient asteroid and the potential to uncover the secrets of our solar system.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: An historic moment in space exploration that's taken a decade that the NASA spacecraft has successfully touched down on an asteroid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- has descended below the five-meter mark. The hazard map is go for tag. Contact expected in 50 seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown to players.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sampling is in progress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This will preserved ancient asteroid, known as Bennu is about 320 million kilometers from earth. The spacecraft about the size of a van has been circling Bennu for almost two years landing on a spot as wide as a few parking spaces then used a robotic gun to click the sample from the surface which NASA hopes to head back here on earthy sometime in 2023.
Scientists are looking for clues about the origins of our solar system, possibly even the origins of life, itself. A little boy in Utah has the perfect frame for trick or treating this Halloween, his best buddy, a big old skeleton. Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you think having a toddler is tough, imagine trying to handle both a two-year old, and a 5-foot skeleton. The two are practically inseparable.
ABIGAIL BRADY, MOTHER: They are two peas in a pod.
[01:55:00]
MOOS: From the moment Abigail Brady's son, Theo, stumbled on this former Halloween decoration down the basement, it was love at first sight.
BRADY: So ever since that experience, my son has been carrying a five- foot skeleton everywhere.
MOOS: His name is Benny, named after the taxi driving skeleton in the movie "Halloween Town".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Howdy Mayor. What's the rush?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They strapped Benny in. Their first outing was to the beach at a reservoir near their Salt Lake City home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Better than a lot of graveyards, I've hung out in.
MOOS: Careful Bennie, wouldn't want to break a bone while tickling our funny bone. They've gone to the grocery store.
BRADY: I've definitely gotten some weird-like --
MOOS: Theo has read Bennie his bedtime stories. They play with Theo's toys together. His mom thinks that COVID canceling playdates with other kids strengthened his bond with Benny.
BRADY: I think he's kind of seeing Bennie as a friend.
MOOS: Theo loves to feed Benny. He's shared his popsicle and a treat during our interview with his mom. Bennie could stand to gain of few pounds.
So what, if Theo doesn't appreciate Bennie's anatomy.
BRADY: I don't think he quite understands that, you know, we all of us have a skeleton like inside of us.
MOOS: Theo is always touching his boney buddy. And poking. And prodding. No wonder, there have been injuries.
BRADY: Benny's head has fallen off a few times,. And whenever the head falls off Theo will come up to me and goes oh no mommy oh no. MOOS: For Halloween, Theo wants to be a skeleton, but what happens to
Bennie after the holiday?
BRADY: We're going to try to put him away.
MOOS: Yes, good luck with that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks again. See you in the afterlife.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
BRADY: Give Benny a high five.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: High five.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I think it's cute.
I'll be back with a lot more news after a very short break. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:06]
VAUSE: Hello everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Ahead this hour.
