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Six States See Highest Case Count; North Carolina Voters React to Debate; Trump and Biden Spar over Oil Industry. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired October 23, 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]
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Particular statement, though, that the U.S. embassy did put out is that it said that they've received these credible reports of potential terrorist attacks and kidnappings against U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in Istanbul, including against the U.S. consulate general. We don't usually, in these types of statements, get this kind of specificity.
Now, they're not telling all Americans and foreigners to stay at home, they're just saying that they should exercise caution, be aware of your surroundings, be vigilant, avoid crowded areas. Remember, you know, in recent years, this hasn't been the case, but it is not too long ago that Turkey was subjected to numerous attacks by ISIS and other terrorist organizations.
Jim and Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Very --
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, covered some of those myself. And I know you did, too, Arwa.
HARLOW: Arwa, thank you for that important reporting.
Coronavirus cases are spiking in 32 states. The president says we're rounding the corner. Clearly we're not. What you need to know ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:35:28]
HARLOW: So, look at this, more than 71,000 new COVID cases were confirmed in the country just yesterday.
SCIUTTO: Yes, sadly, the fourth worst day since the pandemic began. Thirty-two states sadly seeing a spike, six of them had their worst day of new infections ever. Goodness.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here.
Elizabeth, what's behind this combination, rather, of factors, fatigue, people being indoors more? Why are we seeing this?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think you just named the two big ones, Jim, that people are having fatigue. It is tough to keep up these measures, although it is so, so important. And also, as the weather gets colder, more people are going indoors. So what used to be a picnic or a barbecue where you could be outside and spaced apart, now those people are all in one person's living room and that is not good, even if you are wearing a mask. That is problematic.
Let's take a look at these trends. So if you look at this map, you can see, 32 states are in orange or dark red. I mean they really -- that's a lot of states in orange. And that means that those states are going up, the cases are going up, more last week than the previous week. The yellow ones, the numbers are stable. There's only one state headed in the right direction, only one state where the numbers are going down, and that's Oregon.
Now, let's take a look, six states are showing their highest daily case count ever. Six states, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Oklahoma, Montana and Utah, more cases than they've ever had during this pandemic.
And it's not just a matter of cases, it's also, sadly, a matter of deaths. If you take a look, 28 states, they -- their death rates are going up. Ten of those states, they're going up by more than 50 percent. Deaths are going up by more than 50 percent in ten states. The yellow states, the death rates are holding steady. The green states that they -- the deaths are, thank goodness, going down.
Jim. Poppy.
HARLOW: Elizabeth, a major move by the FDA yesterday, and that is authorizing the use of Remdesivir for patients hospitalized with coronavirus. People may know this because the president took it.
How big is that authorization, but also, is there enough supply for anyone who needs it in the country right now and how expensive is it? Like can everyone afford it?
COHEN: Those are great questions because I'll tell you, this approval from the FDA in many ways is technicality. It got an emergency approval back in May and now it's getting sort of the full regular FDA approval.
However, there are a couple of questions here. One is about efficacy. In the meantime, the World Health Organization came out with a study that was bigger than the original study that was done that got Remdesivir its approval. The new one says it doesn't work. The old one said, oh, it cuts a few days off of a hospital stay. This new World Health Organization one says it just doesn't work.
Now, Gilead, the company that makes Remdesivir, says, oh, that WHO study, and they sort of poke holes in it. But, still, a concern that this drug is too pricey. Also concerns that there isn't enough of this drug to go around for everybody.
Poppy. Jim.
HARLOW: Yes, I mean, those are two big issues for folks who might rely on it.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: Elizabeth, thanks a lot for the reporting. Have a good weekend.
COHEN: Thanks.
HARLOW: So in an hour, we're going to be joined by a very important guest, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will be with us, obviously leading the country's charge on handling COVID.
SCIUTTO: Yes, what are they going to do about this surge going forward?
Another story in hour, North Carolina, of course a critical state at play in this election, but some voters there, they remained undivided, some of the few, you might say. We spoke with a group of them to see if last night's debate changed their minds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:43:25]
HARLOW: All right, the battleground state of North Carolina, where more than 2.4 million voters in that state alone have already cast their ballots.
SCIUTTO: I mean it's amazing. And we're seeing this across the country.
HARLOW: Yes.
SCIUTTO: Well, polls in North Carolina show Democrats maintaining a narrow lead in early voting across that state, but were the undecideds, the few remaining undecideds swayed by last night's debate?
CNN's Gary Tuchman, he asked undecideds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Four of them identify as Democrats, three as Republicans, four as independents, all of these North Carolinians still not sure which candidate they want to be president.
We watched the final debate with them. The group leaving no doubt who they think did best.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Who do you think won the debate? How many of you think Donald Trump won this debate?
OK, no hands being raised for that.
How many of you think Joe Biden won the debate?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
How many of you feel it was a draw?
Two. Two for a draw. Zero for Trump. Nine for Biden.
TUCHMAN (voice over): So why did this group feel Joe Biden did so well? James voted for Donald Trump in 2016 but is now concerned about the nation's lack of unity.
TUCHMAN (on camera): What do you think the most important moment of this debate was?
JAMES, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: Definitely when Joe Biden was talking about that he's going to be an American president because Donald Trump has made it clear that he doesn't support the blue states.
TUCHMAN (voice over): John also voted for President Trump in 2016. Joe Biden's debate comments about American families around the dinner table meant quite a bit to him.
[09:45:00]
JOHN, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: And Trump responded with some mockery of that and I think for me politics are about relationships and people. And this is all about the American family. So that was quite revealing and disturbing for me to hear.
TUCHMAN: Teri (ph) voted for Hillary Clinton four years ago but has been undecided because she did not like Joe Biden's role in the 1994 crime bill. But after the debate, she feels differently.
TERI, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: So what resonated with me was the fact that Joe Biden owned the crime bill and his role in the crime bill, and that he owned the fact that they made a mistake.
TUCHMAN: Nathan voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and is one of the two who feels the debate was a draw. He says the economy must continue opening.
NATHAN, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: Both of them want to open it. I think we need to open faster than slower, not wait for the coronavirus to go away.
TUCHMAN (on camera): So that was an important point for you?
NATHAN: It is important, yes.
TUCHMAN: That the president made?
NATHAN: Yes.
TUCHMAN (voice over): When it comes to the major question, are any of the 11 now ready to make a decision on who should be president, no response was more interesting than this one from Harrison.
HARRISON, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: Well, I'd like to vote for Joe Biden, almost totally, except for the fact that he is going to increase abortion access in America. And so if, you know -- I'll feel a little bit safer about that not happening if Amy Barrett is on the Supreme Court.
TUCHMAN (on camera): So if she is confirmed, you'll vote for Biden most likely?
HARRISON: Yes.
TUCHMAN (voice over): So how many of these 11 voters are now ready to cast their votes following this debate? The answer is seven.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Of the seven of you who say you're ready to cast your votes, how many are ready to vote for Donald Trump?
Zero.
How many are ready to vote for Joe Biden?
All seven.
TUCHMAN (voice over): As far as the other four, the debates are over, but their indecisiveness is not.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Davidson, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: What a fascinating piece by Gary. Thank you for that reporting.
So ahead for us, there are Republicans that are pointing to one particular moment in the debate last night that they think could hurt Joe Biden in certain states. We'll tell you what that is, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:52:06]
HARLOW: Welcome back.
So there are some Republicans really pointing to this moment in last night's debate, let' play the tape, and we'll explain why after.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The oil industry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It falls (ph) --
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: By the way, I have a transition from the oil industry, yes. I will transition --
TRUMP: Oh, that's a big statement.
BIDEN: That is a big statement.
Because the oil industry pollutes significantly.
TRUMP: Oh, I see.
BIDEN: And here's the deal.
TRUMP: That's a big statement.
BIDEN: You can't do that -- well, if you let me finish the statement, because it has to be replaced by renewable energy, over time, over time. And I'd stop giving to the oil industry. I'd stop giving them federal subsidies.
TRUMP: Oh.
BIDEN: He won't give federal --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Joe Biden later clarified his stance, but this could impact him with voters in key states that rely on the oil and gas industry.
CNN correspondent Bill Weir joins us now.
Bill, listen to that comment there. I mean you're deep into the climate change issue here. Tell us about the political implications.
BILL WEIR, CNN CLIMATE CHANGE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Jim. Yes, ever since Hillary Clinton lost coal country and was sort of tagged as a warrior against those workers, the Biden campaign has been very careful not to scare away Pennsylvania frackers.
Now, for anybody who remotely cares about land and water and animals and climates, this is an obvious choice. They live in two different planets. In planet Trump, there are no gigi (ph) fires out west, Miami is not flooding, there are no experts telling us that this is just the beginning of a new normal.
And the reality is, back here on planet earth, that a renewable energy company just last week was more valuable than Exxon Mobil. The International Energy Association just put out their report that says solar projects are now perhaps the cheapest form of energy ever invented.
So we're on a tipping point right now and the Biden campaign is trying to temper any -- any big, seismic changes that might scare people away saying it will take time, but there's not a lot of time. He wants to decarbonize the electricity sector in just the next 15 years, be net zero for the whole country. And just for perspective, it took this county about 100 years to lay out its energy grid. By some estimates, that will have to be done two and a half times over to make it a smart grid. So it was just a clear choice last night between Biden, who calls this
an existential threat and tempers the nightmare with the dream of all these green jobs, and Donald Trump, who continues to just hit it gusher after gusher of lies and misinformation and insistence that we stay on these old, dirty fuels.
HARLOW: Bill, the president also made a claim last night that I've heard the vice president, Mike Pence, make before that is just not true. He said again that the U.S. has the cleanest air and water. I think it's actually like 16th on the list, right?
WEIR: Exactly. And it's getting worse since this administration completely dismantled the enforcement arm of the Environmental Protection Agency, rolled back dozens of clean air and water provisions.
[09:55:06]
And as a point of comparison, he said, look at India, look at China, look at Russia, they're filthy, without any sort of self-awareness that the reason our environment is clear here is a result of the Clean Air and Water Act and the EPA, created by Richard Nixon.
So it would be much worse if it wasn't for those sorts of things. But it's been the Republican platform for a long time that all environmental regulation is bad. But you're seeing it, especially in communities of color. And that was what brought up the sort of real candid moment about Joe Biden transitioning away from fossil fuel, which everybody is saying, but the fact that he would say it out loud as a president debate is news.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
WEIR: But he talked about growing up, you know, near these big oil refineries in Delaware and having oil on the windshield. That's when Trump pounced. That's when Biden says, we have to get off these fuels.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Remarkable what the public statement means about where the debate has moved in the country.
Bill Weir, thanks very much.
Well, on the same day that the U.S. saw its greatest number of new coronavirus infections in several months, President Trump again says we, as a country, are turning the corner and that the virus will go away. What do the facts say?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:01]
SCIUTTO: A very good Friday morning to you. It's Friday. I'm Jim Sciutto.
HARLOW: What a week it has been. I'm Poppy Harlow. We're so glad you're here. So we do have breaking news this morning.
