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Five Aides In Vice President's Office Test Positive For COVID- 19; Pence To Stay On Campaign Trail Despite Outbreak In Inner Circle; WH Chief Of Staff To CNN: We Are Not Going To Control The Pandemic; Trump Claims Outbreak Is Rounding The Corner As U.S Sees Record 83,000-Plus Cases In Single Day; U.S. Surpasses 225,000 Deaths As Coronavirus Cases Soar; Trump Continues New England Push With Maine Visit Soon. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired October 25, 2020 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:00:15]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We begin this hour with the coronavirus pandemic spiraling out of control in the U.S. and now the White House is dealing with yet another outbreak.
On Saturday, the U.S. top 83,000 new cases for the second time in as many days, painfully close to breaking the record just set on Friday. And now word that at least five people in Vice President Mike Pence's office, including his chief of staff, Marc Short, have tested positive for coronavirus. But President Trump is downplaying Short's diagnosis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did hear about it just now. And I think he's quarantining. Yeah. I did hear about it. He's going to be fine. But he's quarantining.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Meanwhile, the Vice President and his wife have both tested negative but as the leader of the White House's Coronavirus Task Force, you'd expect Pence to follow CDC guidelines and self-quarantine for 14 days as a precaution. Yet, with just nine days until the election, Pence is doing exactly the opposite choosing instead to campaign every day until November 3.
Today Pence will be holding a rally in North Carolina, a state already seeing its own spike in new cases. And in just the past hour, President Trump, again downplaying the surges seen across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You know why we have cases so much, because that's all we do is test. If we cut our testing down in half, they'd say, well, they wouldn't say that. But cases would go down. And now we have the best test and we are coming around. We're rounding the turn. We have the vaccines. We have everything. We're rounding the turn. Even without the vaccines, we're rounding the turn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Coronavirus in this country is seeing levels not yet seen before. And now a stunning admission from President Trump's own chief of staff. Today, Mark Meadows said, 'We are not going to control the pandemic."
Here's much more from that interview from this morning's "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Mark, thanks so much. Horrible news about the V.P.'s office, how many --
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Yes, we wish them best. Obviously, anybody, not just White House staff, but any American who comes down with this, we certainly wish them the very best.
TAPPER: Yes.
MEADOWS: And it's all about trying to make sure that we have the therapeutics, the treatments, and make sure that we can tackle this in a meaningful way. And, hopefully, we will be able to do that.
TAPPER: How many individuals in the vice president's office or the White House have tested positive this week? And how many of them have symptoms?
MEADOWS: You know, we don't give out that kind of information. Obviously, Marc Short and a couple of the key staff around the Vice President have come down with the coronavirus. You know, it just goes to show you that we continue to face this enemy that came from China.
And yet what we also know is, the one area that -- where we are rounding the corner is really the death rate as it looks to that. Our ability to handle this has improved each and every day, each and every month. And when there were estimates that as many as 10 percent of the population that got this would actually experience a fatal result, we're now down to 2.6. Every death is too many.
TAPPER: Right.
MEADOWS: But, hopefully, we're going to get this to the point where it's not as lethal as the flu.
TAPPER: So, Mark, Pence adviser Marty Obst tested positive days ago, and that was not disclosed to the public at the time. According to The New York Times, "Two people briefed on the matter said that the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had sought to keep the news of the outbreak from becoming public." Why would you do that? Is it because it's yet another sign of how much the White House has failed to contain the virus?
MEADOWS: Well, obviously -- Yes, obviously, that's not a report. That's actually a tweet. And, when we look at this, when we're really talking about --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: No, that was a New York Times story. That was a New York Times story.
MEADOWS: When we actually -- when we actually have people's health at risk, what we look at there, Jake, is sharing personal information is not something that we should do, not something that we do actually do, unless it's the vice president or the president or someone that's very close to them, where there's people in harm's way.
Listen, any time that there's someone in harm's way, we have an obligation to let people know, to contact-trace. We have done that.
TAPPER: Chris Christie says you didn't do that with him.
MEADOWS: We did that in this particular -- well, in that vein, when you look at Chris Christie, it's within 48 hours of symptoms. And when we looked at the president, there was not a contact --
TAPPER: Yes.
MEADOWS: -- within 48 hours of the president, where he would qualify under CDC guidelines. We actually have a CDC person in the --
TAPPER: So, Mark --
MEADOWS: Hold on, Jake. We have got a person, a CDC person, embedded here in the White House that helps us with contact tracing each and every day.
[14:05:03]
TAPPER: Right. No, I understand that.
MEADOWS: Yes.
TAPPER: So, Mark, Marc Short has been in close contact with Vice President Pence.
MEADOWS: Right. That's correct.
TAPPER: I mean, they are always with each other. Short is now positive for the virus.
MEADOWS: That's correct.
TAPPER: So, CDC guidelines say that Vice President Pence should quarantine for 14 days. Now, I understand the White House is trying to get around that by saying the vice president is an essential worker. But, Mark, how is going all over the country, how is that, campaigning, how is that essential work? It's not like he's helping to contain the virus, in fact, the opposite. He's holding rallies that could be spreading the virus. MEADOWS: Well, actually, he's not just campaigning. He's working. We saw a Middle East peace agreement with Sudan in the Oval Office that the president engaged in. And for anybody to suggest that the president has been out campaigning and not getting things done, all you have to do is look at the facts. So --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: He was at a campaign rally in Tallahassee. He was just in a campaign rally in Tallahassee.
MEADOWS: That's -- I'm not saying he's not campaigning. I'm saying that that is only part of what he's doing. And, as we look at that, essential personnel, whether it's the vice president of the United States or anyone else, has to continue on.
TAPPER: But he's not following CDC guidelines.
MEADOWS: Jake -- well, no, Jake, CDC guidelines does say essential personnel, if they will mask up.
TAPPER: Yes, if they wear a mask, if they wear a mask.
MEADOWS: And I spoke to the vice president last night at midnight. And I can tell you that what he's doing is wearing a mask, socially distancing. And when he goes up to speak, he will take the mask off, put it back on. But he's wearing a mask as it relates to this particular thing because the doctors have advised him to do that. And, so, Jake, when we start to look at this, here's where we really need to make sure. On your Web site yesterday, Jake --
TAPPER: Yes.
MEADOWS: -- your Web site is talking about, well, now we think the spread is coming from small social groups and family groups. First, it was large groups. Now it's small groups. Now --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: It's coming from all sorts of places. It's coming from all sorts of places, because the pandemic is out of control.
MEADOWS: That's exactly the point. So, here's what we have to do. We're not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Why aren't we going to get control of the pandemic?
MEADOWS: Because it is a contagious virus. Just like the flu, it's contagious.
TAPPER: Yes, but why not make efforts to contain it?
MEADOWS: Well, we are making efforts to contain it. And that's -- TAPPER: By running all over the country not wearing a mask? That's
what the vice president is doing.
MEADOWS: Jake, we can get into the back-and-forth. Let me just say this, is, what we need to do is make sure that we have the proper mitigation factors, whether it's therapies or vaccines or treatments, to make sure that people don't die from this. But to suggest that we're going to actually quarantine all of America, lock down our --
TAPPER: I never said -- no one is saying that.
MEADOWS: Well, they are. Joe Biden is saying that.
TAPPER: That's not what he said.
MEADOWS: He says, lock everybody down. We're going to have -- we're going to have a dark --
TAPPER: He's not saying -- he's not saying that.
MEADOWS: We're going to have a dark winter. We're going to have a dark winter.
TAPPER: That's what health officials say. That's what health officials say, that it's going to get worse.
MEADOWS: No, what -- no, no, that's Joe Biden's --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: We had the two worst days in terms of new infections Friday and Saturday, the two worst days.
(CROSSTALK)
MEADOWS: Jake, let's be honest here. The health officials did not say dark winter. Those were Joe Biden's words. When we look at the --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: He was quoting a health official. I think he was quoting William Haseltine.
MEADOWS: Well, when we look at the number of cases increasing, what we have to do is make sure that we fight it with therapeutics and vaccines, take proper mitigation factors, in terms of social distancing and masks when we can. And when we look at this, what we're -- we're going to defeat it, Jake, because what we are, we're Americans. We do that. And this president is leading, while Joe Biden is sitting there suggesting that we're going to mandate masks.
TAPPER: Mark, the President is holding rallies all over the country.
MEADOWS: That's correct. That's correct. In fact, we're leaving --
(CROSSTALK) TAPPER: No masks required, no distancing.
MEADOWS: We --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: There have already been, according to health officials' contact tracing, there have already been cases of individuals in Minnesota and in Washington, D.C., and in Oklahoma that got the virus at these Trump rallies that Dr. Fauci himself called a super-spreader event, the one at the White House.
MEADOWS: Well, there's also been contact tracing, Jake -- there's --
TAPPER: That is not leading. That is not leading.
MEADOWS: There's all been -- also been contact tracing from reporters, some with your own group, where they actually have worn masks religiously. And so what I'm here to tell you is we need to find the vaccines and the therapeutics to actually give Americans the relief that this is not a death sentence --
TAPPER: Mark.
MEADOWS: -- because it's not. And yet, at the same time, to suggest that any of that is -- is not accurate is just not based on the facts.
TAPPER: Here's the bottom line. Here's the bottom line.
MEADOWS: Yes. Yes.
TAPPER: We know, according to health officials, that masks are the best thing people can do in terms of trying to prevent the virus from spreading, period.
MEADOWS: Yes.
TAPPER: That's what they say.
MEADOWS: Right.
TAPPER: Until the vaccine and Operation Warp Speed, until that all works out --
MEADOWS: OK.
TAPPER: -- the best thing to do are masks.
MEADOWS: Yes.
TAPPER: That's from Dr. Redfield. It's from Dr. Fauci. It's from Dr. Birx. It's from everybody.
MEADOWS: Yes.
TAPPER: OK. Vice President Pence is the head of the Coronavirus Task Force. He has been exposed to somebody who tested positive.
MEADOWS: Right.
TAPPER: The CDC guidelines say he should quarantine. Now, you're trying to say his running all over the country, meeting voters, campaigning, is an essential worker business. I don't think it is. But OK, if you do that, why is he not wearing a mask? We have -- I haven't seen any pictures of him on the tarmac or anywhere wearing a mask. And should the American people follow the CDC guidelines, or should they not? Because the Vice President is not.
[14:10:19]
MEADOWS: Well, I can tell you he is wearing a mask. He will be wearing a mask today, as we have this. Obviously, when you have an exposure, you have to take additional mitigation factors to do that. But the other part of that, Jake, is this, is even those experts that you talked about, when we talk about masks, I said, well, if masks is the answer and mandating masks is the answer, can't we put all our students back in schools? If we just mandate masks and make sure the teachers wear masks, will --
TAPPER: Should Americans follow CDC guidelines?
MEADOWS: -- will they be safe? And the answer was no.
TAPPER: Should Americans follow CDC guidelines?
MEADOWS: And so, certainly, American should follow CDC guidelines.
TAPPER: They should.
MEADOWS: And when we look at that, when we look at that --
TAPPER: Does that include the President?
MEADOWS: That includes the President, and it includes everyone. But there are special --
TAPPER: Well, then why don't your supporters wear masks at rallies?
MEADOWS: Well, you're asking about the supporters versus the President. So -- and so --
TAPPER: Well, why don't you require -- why don't you require supporters to wear masks at rallies?
MEADOWS: Well, we don't mandate masks because -- here's the other thing is we offer them out. We live in a free society, Jake. And when you look at that, under a Joe Biden's America, he would lock everything down. He would make sure --
TAPPER: That's not true.
MEADOWS: No. Well, how do you know that? Have you asked him that question? Ask him that question, Jake. How is he going to fix it? TAPPER: Because I have seen a million interviews -- I have seen a million interviews with him. We're not talking about a hypothetical --
MEADOWS: No, he doesn't do many -- no. No, you are talking about hypotheticals.
TAPPER: I have interviewed Biden more than I have interviewed Trump, OK? I will put it that way.
MEADOWS: I get that. Well, because, from a standpoint --
TAPPER: We don't have to get into that.
MEADOWS: We can get into that. In terms of interviews, I think most journalists would agree, Joe Biden has largely been unavailable. He's hoping to run out the clock --
TAPPER: All right.
MEADOWS: -- so that the American people will not know.
TAPPER: So, America -- the American people should abide by CDC guidelines? But you are not even asking your supporters to wear masks, even though --
MEADOWS: We pass them out, Jake. I mean, have you been to --
TAPPER: Do you know how many people in Minnesota have gotten the virus because of Trump rallies?
MEADOWS: Have you been to a rally? You come on with us to a rally, and we will show you. We give out masks.
TAPPER: They don't wear them.
MEADOWS: Well, it's a free society. You're not wearing one right now, Jake.
TAPPER: There's literally nobody in this room. There is literally not one person in the studio.
MEADOWS: Yes, and so you're saying that you always wear a mask wherever you go? Come on, Jake. The American people know that's not true. I know it's not true.
TAPPER: I wear a mask when -- except when I'm in here, in my office, and home. That is true, 100 percent.
MEADOWS: Yes, but --
TAPPER: I wear a mask when I walk in the hallway at CNN, OK?
MEADOWS: But under your article just yesterday, you're suggesting that Thanksgiving is going to be a super-spreader event.
TAPPER: I don't even know what article you're talking about. MEADOWS: Yes, well, it's on the CNN Web site. They can all go look at it.
TAPPER: Let me ask you a question.
MEADOWS: Yes.
TAPPER: So, just yesterday, President Trump said, "We're rounding the corner. It's going away."
MEADOWS: Yes.
TAPPER: Mark, it's not even going away in the White House. But, beyond that, the U.S. reported 83,000 new cases on Friday and Saturday.
MEADOWS: Right.
TAPPER: That's the two highest days of the entire pandemic so far for new cases. And it's not just new cases. The positivity rate is going up. Hospitalizations are going up. Deaths are starting to tick up. For any American --
MEADOWS: But let --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Let me just ask you a question. I have a question here.
MEADOWS: OK. Well, get to the question. Get to the question, Jake.
TAPPER: For any American at home -- for any American at home under the false impression that the pandemic is almost over, would you agree that this remains very serious, the numbers are going in the wrong direction, and people still need to take precaution?
MEADOWS: Well, I agree that it's very serious. But here's the interesting thing is, we continue to test more and more, more than most other countries. So, the cases that we find will go up. If you're not testing, you're not finding it. So, a lot of these other countries, they're not testing near at the rate that we're testing at, Jake. And yet --
TAPPER: So, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
MEADOWS: Hold on. Let me finish. You asked a question.
TAPPER: Let me just add some clarity here. Testing is up -- I am, but I just want to bring some clarity. It is true that, the more you test, the more people you will see. But testing has gone up 16 percent in the last month.
MEADOWS: Right.
TAPPER: Coronavirus cases are up 55 percent. So, this is not just about new tests.
MEADOWS: Well --
TAPPER: This is about the positivity rate. And the pandemic is spreading, the virus is spreading, as a factual matter.
MEADOWS: As a factual matter, if you look at the number of tests vs. the number of cases in the last couple of weeks, where you're talking about all these upticks, there is a correlation to additional testing. I will be glad to go over and, someday, when we're --
TAPPER: Some of it, sure.
MEADOWS: OK. And so, in doing that, I mean, what's the point? What is Joe Biden's plan for the pandemic? How is he going to do it? He's going to wear two masks, like he does every day, and suggest that we skip Thanksgiving?
TAPPER: He gave a whole speech about it. And if you're interested in his plan, you can read his plan. I --
MEADOWS: No, I know, a whole speech. No, no, he doesn't have a plan. He has rhetoric, because you and I both know, for 47 years, he's talked about things, and not done things. You have covered him. I know him. And the American people should know his record.
TAPPER: OK. I'm asking about what's going on right now, not what, theoretically, Joe Biden would or would not do. He had a whole plan that he outlined on Friday, and I'm sure it's on his Web site, if you want to know.
[14:15:01]
President Trump was asked this week, if he could do it all over again, if he could take a mulligan, what would he do differently on the virus? He said, "Not much."
Now, a Columbia University study just out says at least 130,000 deaths and up to 210,000 deaths could have been prevented "with earlier policy interventions and more robust federal communication, coordination, and leadership."
MEADOWS: Yes.
TAPPER: And we know the president publicly dismissed concerns about the virus early on. He undermined messages on masks. He continues to do so. He promoted untested treatments. He holds rallies that lead to more infections. Isn't what is most concerning about the president saying he wouldn't do much differently is that suggests he really hasn't learned anything, if he really thinks he wouldn't do anything differently?
MEADOWS: Listen, we -- some of those different positions on masks actually came from Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx and the people you like to tout. I mean, I can tell you, early on, what was happening is, we were learning about this virus. And we continue to learn about this virus. And where we are today is much better than where we were nine months ago.
When it comes to all the things that we have been able to do in record speed, whether it was PPE, whether it was closing down our borders, whether it was creating ventilators, whether it was actually mobilizing for hospitalization, or whether it was actually providing for therapeutics and vaccines in record times, this president has done that all. That's what you want a leader to do. And to suggest that because of a virus that came here from a foreign country is the whole reason for this pandemic, and to ignore that, Jake, is ignoring the very people that we need to hold accountable. And it's the Chinese.
TAPPER: I'm not ignoring it. And I agree China should be held accountable. But we're talking about how the president handled it. I have -- go ahead and -- China and the Chinese government were not up front about this.
MEADOWS: Well, we found something that we can agree upon. We found something that we can agree.
TAPPER: Yes, I agree with you on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, that from this morning.
Still ahead, Senator Kamala Harris slams Vice President Pence for not quarantining after several of his aides test positive for the coronavirus, telling him to "take our lead."
Plus, another record day of coronavirus cases in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic, nearly 84,000 new infections now reported for the second day in a row. Could this lead to a crackdown on masks and social distancing? And just moments ago, the U.S. hit a grim milestone, 225,000 people have now died from coronavirus. We have the latest coming up.
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[14:21:33]
WHITFIELD: All right Election Day just nine days away. The pandemic continues to surge to record levels across the country just moments ago, the death toll here in the U.S. crossed 225,000. And once again reach the White House at least five members of Vice President Mike Pence's team have now tested positive, including Marc Short, his chief of staff and Marty Obst, one of Pence's top outside political advisors.
Despite the outbreak, Pence is not quarantining, 14 days, not following his own taskforce guidelines, like his challenger, Kamala Harris did when one of her top age recently tested positive. Pence, instead, plans to campaign every day leading up to November 3.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He should be following the guidelines. We're doing it. I think we have modeled the right and good behavior and they should take our lead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: With me now to discuss all of this, CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins, Jessica Dean is in Wilmington, Delaware with Joe Biden. Joe Lockhart is a former White House Press Secretary for President Clinton and a CNN Political Analyst. Also joining us is Dr. Richina Bicette, Medical Director at Baylor College of Medicine. Good to see all of you.
All right, Kaitlan, you first let's begin in Manchester, New Hampshire, where you are. The President is once again holding a campaign rally in the midst of this raging pandemic, few people seeing in the crowd is really wearing masks or social distancing. Did the President have anything to say about the outbreak among the Vice President's inner circle?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No. His only comment came last night as he was returning to the White House from a day on the road and that was right around when vice president's office confirmed and Marc Short had tested positive for coronavirus. But of course, what this is raising the question of whether or not the White House is handling this properly, because we saw they responded on Thursday outbreak in the West Wing.
And now we are seeing seven weeks later and the Vice President and these are all people who work incredibly closely with the Vice President. Mar Short, his chief of staff, obviously spends a lot of time with him. So does Marty Obst who is a senior outside political advisor but also now we're learning some other staffers at the office including his buddy man has also tested positive.
That's another person who works (inaudible) basically, constantly. Yet despite that he is not following CDC guidelines. And that it is the White House says, is an essential worker but what he's going to today in North Carolina is a campaign event so that's what you got to keep in mind.
WHITFIELD: All right, Kaitlan, competing against the speakers there. So Jessica, we heard Kamala Harris, say to the vice president that they should quote her now. They should follow our lead. You know, she quarantined after someone tested positive in her office. What else is the Biden Harris campaign saying?
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we're just getting the statement now from the Biden campaign. I want to read you a little bit, it echoes what you were saying, Kamala Harris said on the trail today. Joe Biden saying that Mark Meadows has "admitted this morning that the administration has given up on even trying to control this pandemic, that they've given up on their basic duty to protect the American people." He went on to say, "It's long past time for President Trump and his administration to listen to the scientists."
This is a familiar refrain from the Biden-Harris campaign. They have made President Trump and his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Absolutely central to their campaign drawing a very sharp contrast with how they would handle this moving forward, how they would have handled it, had they been in office, and how the Trump administration has handled it.
[14:25:11]
Here you see today them pointing out that they believe that the Trump campaign that the Trump campaign administration has really waved the white flag toward the pandemic.
Now, you also mentioned how Harris responded when a member of her staff and then a non staff member who was on the plane, the campaign plane staff tested positive for coronavirus, two people. We knew at the time that Harris had been wearing masks, had not been in close contact with them, but even still proactively, the campaign pulled her off the trail for several days, just to be sure, and tested her again and again. So, again, Fred, just a stark contrast between how Biden- Harris have handled this and how the Trump campaign has handled this.
WHITFIELD: Yeah. And Joe, you know, the White House is arguing that Pence is an essential worker. And so that, in part justifies why he continued to be on the campaign trail, even though people around him have tested positive, you know, you formerly as White House Press Secretary in the White House, how do you dissect what we heard from the Chief of Staff today in terms of the kind of messaging that it's trying to send to defend the White House and the Vice President's office approach?
JOE LOCKHART, FORMER CLINTON WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I think he's trying to defend a position that's indefensible. And I think he, he picked the wrong Sunday morning to sit across from Jake Tapper, because he eventually admitted and said the truth out loud, which is we're not even trying to control the virus.
And this stems from a political decision that the White House and the President and the Vice President made late January, early February, that we were going to downplay this virus, we were going to tell people, it's not that dangerous, it will go away. And they have -- they've had ample opportunities to change that to take responsibility and mobilize a national effort. But, you know, the President somehow thinks that politically, he can get away with this.
And the country is split between people who don't take it seriously, taking the lead of the President and modeling his behavior. And the country that does take it seriously wears mask, modeling Joe Biden's behavior. And, you know, we'll find out in a very few days, which is the right approach. But we know that for the American people's health, it's the wrong approach to not take this seriously.
WILLIAMS: Right. And most circles, Joe, this would be considered a major defeat, right for a chief of staff or for the White House to admit, we're not going to do as much as we should, or to even reiterate his words today that we're not going to control the pandemic, but instead, that messaging is consistent with what the President said he wanted to do, and he sees it as a real asset.
LOCKHART: Yeah, no, I mean, I was trying to think of something to compare it to, and it would have been like earlier this year, in the impeachment proceedings in the senate trial of if Trump's lawyer just said, oh, hold on a second. He's guilty. He did it, you know, but get over it. It's, it's stunning but it's not surprising. Because those of us who have watched this closely, you know, since February and March, have seen what they're doing. They they've seen that rather than take any public health policy approach to this, they took a political approach.
And the political -- now the politics of this are terrible for him, because cases are spiking around the country, it's not under control. And then we had the stunning revelation from the White House Chief of Staff that they're not even trying anymore.
WHITFIELD: Doctor Bicette, doesn't this make your job a lot harder? If you've got the Vice President and his wife, although they have tested negative, people in their circle have tested positive and they're going to defy the CDC guidance, then? How much more powerless does this make you and other doctors?
DR. RICHINA BICETTE, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Fred, you know, that interview by Mark Meadows this morning was terrifying. And it was a travesty. On one hand, he's saying that all of the American people should listen to the CDC recommendations. But then he's also admitting that the Vice President of the United States himself is not following the CDC recommendations.
Just yesterday, we hit a new record 84,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day, a week and a half ago, that number was in the 60,000. That's a sharp rise and a precipitous increase. So I implore the American people please take a look around you and take stock of what is happening right now. Presidents may lie, federal governments may lie but numbers do not. And this administration refuses to take responsibility for their role or their lack thereof in this pandemic.
WHITFIELD: Kaitlan, hopefully you can hear me OK. OK, sounds a little quieter there where you are, you know, the President continues to deny the virus you know, is surging today. The White House says the pandemic can't be controlled. That is a seemingly a message consistent, you know, with the President and people there are largely not wearing masks.
[14:30:00]
We heard Mark Meadows who said, hey, it's their freedom. We hand out the masks but it's their freedom as to whether they should wear it or not.
Does this simply just kind of galvanize this feeling that it's unnecessary to mask up or to take any precautions.
COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE) to be able encourage people to policies and guidelines but they themselves are not following those guidelines. Now, how do they contact if someone who is tested positive and (INAUDIBLE).
Again, the president didn't follow those guidelines. The vice president does not follow those guidelines.
WHITFIELD: It's really hard to hear you there, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Okay.
WHITFIELD: All right. Yes, either -- well, yes, you're competing against the ambient sound there. We'll try to check back with you.
So, Dr. Bicette, your response now when the White House says the pandemic can't be controlled, kind of throwing in the towel.
BICETTE: The pandemic possibly could have been controlled seven months ago. I think that Mark Meadows is telling us something that we already knew. The United States is not going to take control of this, we haven't been in control for the last seven months and the lives of 225,000 Americans that have succumbed to this virus can attest to that fact.
But let's look into his statement just a little bit more. He is trying to give a little bit of hope and saying, what we can control are the vaccines and the therapies and the mitigation strategies that we have implored. What vaccines are those? Despite our best guesses, we have no idea when a vaccine will be approved.
Just this week, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson restarted vaccine trials after they were put on pause because of significant adverse events that were seen trial participants. He mentioned therapies. We have just gotten our first approval for a drug to treat COVID-19, and that's only in hospitalized patients. We don't have this strong, robust mitigation strategy that we would like to implore because we're seeing those things being ignored by Donald Trump and Mike Pence as they continue to go on the campaign trail and have rallies.
WHITFIELD: And, Joe, the last word, how is it, in your view, that this White House or any White House could feel like it can win by throwing in the towel, by saying, we're not going to control this pandemic? That is essentially throwing in the towel and say, we're just going to throw up our hands, but the hope is that's going to be a popular approach?
LOCKHART: Well, I think if they got too in as far as playing down the seriousness of this. And I think the president is just allergic to taking responsibility for things he has done wrong. And now, this entire campaign, I think, is going to be decided on the model Joe Biden has followed, and then on the model the president has. And, you know, politically, I think that's very tough for the president to win.
WHITFIELD: All right. Joe Lockhart, Kaitlan Collins, Jessica Dean, Dr. Richina Bicette, thanks to all of you. I appreciate it.
All right, well, after a race like no other, it all ends here. Join us for a special live coverage the way only CNN can bring it to you, from the first votes to the critical count, understand what's happening in your state and across the country. Election Night in America, our special coverage starts Tuesday, November 3rd, 4:00 P.M. Eastern. And this just in to CNN, the Senate, the U.S. Senate has completed a key procedural vote that effectively guarantees Judge Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation to the Supreme Court tomorrow. All but two Republican senators voted to break a democratic filibuster against her nomination. Judge Barrett is now expected to fill the ninth seat on the court, barely a week before the election.
Still ahead, the president downplays concerns about the spike in coronavirus infections, but new cases aren't the only trend heading in the wrong direction right now. Next, how states are leading the charge to curb the spread.
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WHITFIELD: All right. Hitting the campaign trail hard this weekend, particularly nine days now before Election Day, Vice Presidential Nominee Democrat Kamala Harris in Detroit.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So there's so much at stake in this election, and let's look at it. We're in the midst of four crises that have converged at one time.
A public health crisis because of this pandemic, we're over 225,000 Americans have died in just the last several months, many of whom were without family because of the nature of this, who had no one there to hold their hand for their last days on earth.
Over 8.5 million have contracted the virus and will have unknown long- term health consequences. Doctors are talking about things like lung scarring.
And here is the thing about it, it didn't have to be this way. It did not have to be this way. Thanks to a fellow by the name of Bob Woodward, we know that Donald Trump knew about this back on January 28th.
And, you know, then, oh, boy, has the nerve even just recently in the last debate to talk about how we're rounding the corner? I don't see one either.
And here is the thing, January 28th, he was informed, this thing is deadly, five times more deadly than the flu.
[14:40:04]
He was informed it could hurt children. He was informed it was airborne, and he sat on that information. He did not share it with the American people.
And then he had the gall to suggest it was a hoax, to suggest you shouldn't take it seriously, to suggest, well, he keeps a ledger, and you're on one side of his ledger. If you wear a mask, you're on another side of his ledger if you don't. And now, look at where we are. There is so much at stake in this election. Versus on the other hand Joe Biden, who back since March has been talking about what we need to do to heal. It's a pandemic, a public health crisis.
On the one hand, you have Joe Biden, who, together with President Barack Obama, created the Affordable Care Act, that brought health care of which 20 million people, including protecting people with pre- existing conditions.
How many of you know or love somebody who has diabetes, who has high blood pressure, who has breast cancer, who as lupus? Barack Obama and Joe Biden created the policy that protect people with pre-existing conditions.
On the other hand, you have Donald Trump who is in court right now trying to sue to get rid of it in the midst of a public health pandemic. It's almost unbelievable.
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WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. This just in. The U.S. just reached a grim milestone. 225,000 people have now died from COVID-19. This comes as the U.S. recorded more than 83,000 new coronavirus cases Saturday, nearly matching a single-day record set on Friday.
The seven-day average of new infections beginning to shoot up as experts warn that things will likely get worse in the coming weeks.
CNN's Polo Sandoval joins me now from New York. So, Polo, what more are you learning?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, when you look at those numbers, it's very clear here that the reality just simply doesn't add up with what we're hearing on the campaign trail from President Trump, that we are rounding this corner.
And as we track these numbers, health officials in many states, I've heard them warn about what many of them are calling alarming increases in infections and in hospitalizations. And now, health officials say that social gatherings, many of those family events moving indoors as it gets colder, that that is possibly something that is contributing to the spread.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Did you hear them the other night? It's going to be a cold, dark winter.
SANDOVAL: While the commander in chief is making light of his opponent's warning that the pandemic is worsening, health experts are not laughing at the increase of infections rates or at the site of so much red on this map. It's clear the predicted fall COVID-19 surge is in full effect. In Texas, the governor is requesting an Army hopistal taking non-COVID patients after El Paso surpassed a thousand infections on Thursday. State officials say it's putting a strain on hospital capacity in the region.
Facing record-COVID-19 cases, three Tennessee counties reinstated mask mandates that were previously allowed to expire.
And on Saturday, New Jersey saw its highest daily new COVID case count since May. Governor Phil Murphy pleading with the citizens to stay vigilant, writing on Twitter, this virus has not gone away simply because we are tired of it.
DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL: We have grossly mishandled this pandemic. And the fact that it's taken off again just reminds how we're not learning from our mistakes. And we could have avoided this by doing the right thing, but we don't seem to learn.
SANDOVAL: The director at the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy fears we may soon hit six-digit daily numbers. That's ahead of several holidays when experts worry more Americans could let their guard down and not to visit to family and friends possibly driving surges into the New Year.
DR. MATTHEW HEINZ, HOSPITAL PHYSICIAN AND INTERNIST: And we have to get people to the point where they're comfortable taking a COVID vaccine once those FDA-approved and available, and making sure that we can get to a level where it can't spread around rampantly like it is right now.
SANDOVAL: COVID-related deaths, while not at levels seen during the summer spike, are starting to climb again. The most recent weekly national death average was recorded at 771 people, the highest it's been in a month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: The nation's top infectious disease expert offering an update on where he thinks we may be regarding a COVID-19 vaccine. Anthony Fauci told the BBC this weekend that he believes that we'll know whether or not a vaccine is safe and effective possibly by late November or maybe early December, Fred. However, he does think that it is going to take a while for that vaccine to be distributed, so many Americans may have to wait several months into 2021 before they're actually vaccinated, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Yes, that's consistent with a lot of medical and scientific experts. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.
SANDOVAL: Thanks, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, happening right now, President Trump is set to make a rare campaign stop in Maine. Why he has his eye on two key congressional districts. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.
President Trump is spending Sunday campaigning in New England. After a rally in New Hampshire earlier, the president is making a rare campaign stop in Maine shortly.
Let's go to Evan McMorris-Santoro standing by in Bangor.
Evan, Maine is a key -- is key to the Trump campaign strategy. Why?
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Fred. And right now, at Bangor International Airport, we're awaiting for Air Force One to really appear over my left shoulder at any minute, as the president flies in from that rally you mentioned in New Hampshire.
Now, what he's doing here in Maine is very different. We're not going to see a campaign rally like we saw. We're not seeing supporters meet the president at the airport. We're expecting some retail campaigning in a short stop, just about an hour here in Bangor before the president flies back to Washington.
But it could be a very important hour for him.
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Because the way Maine works is that a presidential candidate can pick up the electoral vote in the second congressional district, which is here where Bangor is, while also losing the entire state. And Trump was the first candidate to do that in 2016. He is hoping to do that again and to maintain that electoral vote that he got here in just a couple of days, obviously, a few days when the election comes.
And the campaign has been very focused on this area. Vice President Pence was just here last week and the president is obviously coming in here to lend his name and get his ability to campaign here to keep that electoral vote and keep this one vote, from Maine's second congressional district, in his column, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you so much.
President Trump, the White House trying to repeat a lot of what the experience was for 2016 for them.
All right, still to come, another stunning development from inside the White House. Five people in Mike Pence's inner circle test positive for coronavirus, and the vice president still continuing to campaign. Live to Washington, next.
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WHITFIELD: All right. Just nine days before the election.
The Gulf Coast is facing the threat of yet another dangerous storm. I want to bring in CNN Meteorologist Karen Maginnis.
So, Karen, what can you tell us about this tropical storm Zeta?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And it looks as it makes landfall, this will be the fifth named storm of the hurricane season to impact the state of Louisiana. It was October 9th that we saw Delta.
Let's give you the latest information. National Hurricane Center set this out. It was 2:00 P.M. update, poorly organized, it doesn't look impressive. But if you remember, delta looked the same way as well. It's in the Northwestern Caribbean. It's expected to move across the Yucatan Strait and across the Yucatan Peninsula. So, Cozumel, (INAUDIBLE), those areas are going to be affected, also Jamaica and western sections of Cuba.
So what can we expect over the next several days? It moves into very warm waters off the Southern Gulf of Mexico. That's where we start to see it perhaps looking a better organized and gaining some strength, strength to hurricane intensity. And you can better believe the folks in Louisiana are really dreading this because five named storms, the last on just two weeks ago, Lake Charles, Louisiana, known as the blue tarp city now because so much devastation, more than 90 percent of the city somehow affected or destroyed by previous systems.
All right, the computer models are bringing this in. Most of the computer models right over Louisiana, just about midweek. Water temperature vary more, so that will lend itself to development. But there are some outliers. But, overall, they're in fairly good agreement that it looks like it's going to be Louisiana just about midweek. So we're looking at heavy surf, heavy rainfall.
And, Fredricka, for the folks of Louisiana, this is almost unbearable to imagine that this could be perhaps a minimal hurricane, but a hurricane nonetheless just about midweek this week.
WHITFIELD: Wow. It's just been too much. All right, well, our prayers go out to the folks there. Karen Maginnis, thank you so much.
Hello again, everyone, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
All right, we begin with the coronavirus pandemic reaching new heights in the U.S. and the White House struggling to contain the disease within the administration yet again.
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