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Five Aides Of Vice President Pence Tested Positive For COVID- 19; Trump Campaign On The Onslaught As Election Nears; Senate Advances Amy Coney Barrett's Nomination; Pre-election Voting 58 Million Votes Casted. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 25, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. As if there was any doubt, these last nine days before the election were going to be wild. Well, add this to the mix.

Another coronavirus outbreak at the White House, this one affecting members of the vice president's inner circle. Not one, not two, but at least five aides to Mike Pence have been diagnosed with the virus, including his chief of staff, Marc Short and his body man, Zach Bauer.

So if you're wondering if that sending Pence into quarantine and off the campaign trail, well, the answer is no. While CDC guidelines say he should quarantine even though he has tested negative, the White House is arguing it is okay for Pence to be out there because he is "an essential worker."

In fact, he'll be in North Carolina next hour. Pence is the head of the Coronavirus Task Force. Remember, he is prioritizing the campaign, essential work, his office says, even as the virus rages across the country with another day of new cases surpassing 83,000. There he was, making his way to North Carolina.

On top of that, CNN has learned that White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, tried to keep the news of the outbreak in the vice president's office under wraps. This morning, when asked about the surge in case numbers nationwide, here was Meadows response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: 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 mitigations --

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Why aren't we going to get control of the pandemic?

MEADOWS: Because it's a contagious virus just like the flu.

TAPPER: But why not make efforts to contain it?

MEADOWS: Well, we are making efforts to contain it. TAPPER: By running all over the country not wearing a mask? That's

what the vice president is doing.

MEADOWS: 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 where there is therapies or vaccines or treatments to make sure that people don't die from this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joe Biden is now pointing to that comment as proof the White House has given up on trying to protect the American people. And just moments ago, President Trump campaigning in Maine without a mask, getting up close to voters to sign hats, give fist bumps. It was just over three weeks ago he was hospitalized with coronavirus.

Joining us right now, CNN medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He is a professor of medicine at George Washington University, and also advised the Bush White House medical unit for eight years. Dr. Reiner, good to see you.

Let's start with this new outbreak within the vice president's office. And now we also saw those pictures just moments ago of him boarding a flight on the way to North Carolina to campaign. What's the message this administration is sending?

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It's a perplexing message. Someone who's had the level of exposure that the vice president almost certainly has had with five very close aides now, I think also including his body man, that kind of exposure should be followed by a 14-day quarantine.

The only other possible explanation for not quarantining would be if the vice president has already had the virus. So, if he has not already had the virus, and certainly we've never been doled he's had the virus, then he should be in quarantine, period.

WHITFIELD: So, he's considered an essential worker, if you listen to the chief of staff, the president's chief of staff, Mark Meadows. He says he should be out there, no problem.

REINER: Yes. What's essential about a campaign trip? You know, when I think about an essential worker, I think about the last person able to work in a nuclear power plant control room. Yes, that's an essential worker.

But there's nothing critical to public safety for the vice president campaigning. You know, if we were in a time of war and the vice president needed to be in the command spaces, okay, but this is a campaign. And he risks infecting everyone around him.

WHITFIELD: So, the CDC recommendations are 14 days that you quarantine if someone in your circle tests positive. We're told that Pence tested negative today. So, what would be the window of consideration for the vice president if we're learning that five people in his circle have tested positive? Is there a window, like a safety window for him to be able to bypass those CDC recommendations?

REINER: No, the window is 14 days. And testing does not get you out of the window. First of all, most people will test positive or develop symptoms somewhere in the 4 to 7, 5 to 7 day range after exposure, but it can be wider than that.

[17:05:00]

Testing negative today doesn't mean that he'll test -- that he won't test positive tomorrow. And then the meantime, he's shedding virus. He should be quarantining.

WHITFIELD: So you're talking about the risk now for everyone who may be on board that flight or anyone that comes into contact with the vice president as he makes his way to Kingston, North Carolina?

REINER: Right. It's a community health hazard. Anyone who comes into contact with the vice president, if he's indeed is infected, runs the risk of acquiring the virus.

WHITFIELD: Here's the other image that we saw just moments ago. President Trump making a campaign stop in Maine today. And you can see him. He is just inches away from non-masked people, his Secret Service just as close. You see, you know, the president even knuckle, you know, bumping some, signing hats.

What are your concerns? I mean, he has had coronavirus. He's the one who says he's immune. But what are your continued concerns about the message that the medical community and sometimes the Coronavirus Task Force seems to be conveying, but then exemplified very differently from the president and vice president here?

REINER: You know, I feel like every time I see the president, he's pulling the rug out from under my feet. When I talk to patients in the office every week, I talk about not just, you know, their heart health and their heart issues, but I talk about viral safety. And I talk about masking up everywhere you go, social distancing, lowering your viral footprint.

And then I look at the leader of this country completely undermining that effort. Bringing thousands of people together, not socially distance, most of them without masks. That's completely counter, a 180 degrees counter to the message that every health professional in the United States gives their patients. It's really a menace to society.

WHITFIELD: Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said today to our Jake Tapper, I'm quoting now, we are not going to control the pandemic. So, those words and that imagery, I mean, is he saying and is the White House saying we're simply throwing in the towel?

REINER: Yes, I hear a lot of Scott Atlas in that statement. That's a lot of herd immunity in that statement, and that's horrifying. We can control this pandemic. Think about the District of Columbia despite the epicenter -- apparent epicenter of viral transmission in the White House. D.C. which has the highest rate of mask wearing in the country, I'm proud to say, has a 1.3 percent positivity rates, some of the lowest rates of virus in the country.

That's how we contain the pandemic. That's what we do. We get everyone to mask up. What the chief of staff is saying is surrender. No, no, no, we get everyone to mask up, that's how we'll get the rates down.

WHITFIELD: Jonathan Reiner -- Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

REINER: My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: All right. Earlier, Biden's running mate, Senator Kamala Harris was pulled off the campaign trail for several days out of an abundance of caution after her communication director tested positive for coronavirus. She now says vice president Mike Pence should do the same.

CNN's Jessica Dean is following all of this for us. So, Jessica, what more are we hearing from the Biden/Harris campaign?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, as you mentioned, a similar situation happened to Kamala Harris, although she was never in close contact with her communications director after she tested positive, but out of an abundance of caution, they did pull her off the campaign trail for several days. She's back on the campaign trail now and here's what she had to say about it earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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)

DEAN: And this has been a really stark contrast that the Biden campaign has wanted to draw between President Trump and his administration and what a Biden/Harris administration would do.

They have centered so much of their campaign around the coronavirus pandemic, what they would do to get it under control, how they would manage a vaccine, what they would be doing with masks, et cetera, et cetera.

And so, you can imagine, Fred, that when it comes to protocols like this, they are all about following the guidelines, listening to the scientists. We have heard that again and again from this campaign. It is echoing what Harris said today.

We also got a statement from Joe Biden earlier today in which he said Mark Meadows was essential giving up and that the Trump administration is waving the white flag when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. And Fred, we can expect to hear more of this as they give their closing argument here in the last few days leading up to the election.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica Dean, thanks so much for that.

[17:09:59]

A president trailing in the polls with just nine days to go? So what is his strategy in the final stretch? Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein joins us live with his new reporting, next. Also next, Ana Cabrera.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Our breaking news this hour, at least five of the vice president's aides have tested positive for the coronavirus. I want to get straight to CNN White House correspondent, John Harwood.

And John, an official tells CNN Pence is still planning to campaign every day until Election Day including a rally in North Carolina next hour. So how is the White House explaining this?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, they're just trying to blow past the situation just as they did, Ana, when President Trump caught the coronavirus a few weeks ago. You had the president saying a short while ago, well, you have to ask Vice President Pence. It's up to him what he does.

You had the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, on with Jake Tapper this morning saying that Vice President Pence is an essential worker, and so he's going to keep doing his job. He doesn't need to go into quarantine.

[17:15:02]

So we have Pence out on the campaign trail. We have Pence saying he intends to be in the Senate chamber tomorrow night for the vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett for that ninth spot on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Plainly what's happening is that the head of the Coronavirus Task Force is giving the coronavirus battle less priority than his other goals, trying to come from behind and win re-election and trying to cement a 6-3 conservative majority on the court.

And that attitude has concerns some allies of the president who themselves have had difficult experience with coronavirus like Chris Christie.

CABRERA: Just nine days to go until the election. The president could presumably be anywhere, but today we saw him in Maine. Why Maine?

HARWOOD: He went to Maine, Ana, because there's one electoral vote that he could win that he won four years ago, Maine's second district. He's been trailing Joe Biden by a narrow margin there. And as he sweeps around the country trying to defend turf in a bunch of places, from Arizona to Florida to North Carolina, he's making a stop in Maine to try to defend that one electoral vote. He's going to need every one he can get on Election Day.

CABRERA: Now we see him there chumming it up with some of the residents there in Maine holding a pumpkin as we near Halloween as well. John Harwood, thank you. We'll check back.

Joining us now is CNN senior political analyst John Avlon and host of PBS's "Firing Line," Margaret Hoover. Good to see you, as always, guys. The day, you know, that it -- this idea that it's just nine days now before the election, a little over a week, there's this second White House coronavirus outbreak, one that the chief of staff tried to keep hush-hush while the vice president, the leader of the Coronavirus Task Force continues with his campaign rallying. John, doesn't that scream we don't care about people's safety if it interferes with this campaign?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AMALYST: Well, I mean, look, this is -- this sort of do as we say, not as we do administration. They don't believe in transparency. And look, there are some countries that have lower coronavirus outbreak problems than the White House in recent weeks.

But the fact that it's five people in the vice president's office, that he's the head of the task force, and that one apparently, you know, includes his body man as well as his chief of staff who according to some reports has been sort of a skeptic about some of the mitigation measures.

And that his chief of staff today basically said there's nothing we can do to control the coronavirus. Whether that's a white flag or an endorsement of herd immunity, this is on the ballot on Election Day as America hits new highs. What we aren't seeing frankly is responsible leadership when it comes to mitigation. We see politics.

CABRERA: And Margaret, we heard from Kamala Harris when two people in her circle tested positive, she was pulled off the trail for several days. Even Chris Christie, as John Harwood mentioned, had said he was surprised Pence wasn't quarantining. What are the optics here?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Ana, I mean, let's be very clear. Kamala Harris was not pulled off the trail. She chose to stay off the trail because she felt that that was the better, more responsible approach to having been exposed to coronavirus in her inner circle.

There's a fundamentally different approach and philosophy about how to handle coronavirus from the chair of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which actually undermines all the guidelines that they have put out.

CABRERA: Right.

HOOVER: Here's the problem for Pence and Trump and all -- et al, is that as long as coronavirus is in the news and is leading the narrative, they are losing the election. When the story is everybody around them has coronavirus, it highlights how poorly they've handled the coronavirus.

And that is every single poll, every single cross-tab, almost every single sector of the electorate believes that. And so the best thing they can do from a political perspective, just a raw political perspective, is pretend it's not happening and just keeping going.

Keep campaigning, keep getting out there. And that's exactly why you're seeing them still hitting three states in the next three days. This is what they need to do in their view, and probably politically in order to try to shift the narrative. It just doesn't help when they don't wear mask and they get the coronavirus.

AVLON: Yes. It shows the fundamental problem with their personal strategy as well. It's an ostrich-like approach to dealing with a pandemic, is a recipe for death and disaster. And that is what we are seeing at rising levels heading into Election Day.

CABRERA: It is interesting when you look at this live image though, guys. This is at the Pence rally. They're in North Carolina. He is headed there, expected to speak next hour to this crowd. I can't tell if they're intentionally social distancing here or if there are just fewer people than what we see typically at President Trump's rallies.

But clearly, the folks in this crowd aren't worried about Pence coming and potentially exposing them if he in fact, does have the coronavirus, which there's nothing to suggest at this moment that he does. He tested negative this morning, but we know there's this incubation period and so it's always possible he could still, you know, have contracted the virus and just not tested positive yet.

HOOVER: Look, there are pockets of this country that still don't believe this pandemic is real. It hasn't hit their neighborhood or people they know in real ways, and God willing it won't.

[17:20:03]

But we know the nature of this virus and it does. And what seems to be missing is this sense of personal responsibility to the common good in order to mask up and take precautions in order to help other people. Look, they don't need to be losing when it comes to coronavirus if they would just change the way they handle it, which means just following their own White House Coronavirus Task Force guidelines.

AVLAON: Except they --

CABRERA: And yet, as -- hold your thought for a second, John -- because you mentioned earlier that the president would like to be talking but anything other than the coronavirus. He made it pretty clear that that was the case yesterday. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're rounding the turn. We're doing great. Our numbers are incredible.

That's all I hear about now. That's all I hear. You turn on the television, COVID, COVID -- COVID, COVID, COVID. A plane goes down, 500 people dead, they don't talk about it. COVID, COVID, COVID. By the way, on November 4th, you won't hear about it anymore. COVID! COVID!

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: The thing is, John, I spoke to a previously undecided voter in Ohio who told me he made up his mind to vote for Joe Biden when he saw how Trump behaved after his own coronavirus diagnosis, and let me play that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC CAMACHO, OHIO VOTER: When he was sick and he went to the hospital and came back and just marched up the steps right there and took his mask off and I'm thinking to myself, no, that's no. We can't -- that can't happen. We have to protect people. We have to do the right thing. We have to be smart and we have to get ahead of this thing. And he's not making any strides to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: John, are you surprised the president hasn't changed his behavior or strategy here?

AVLON: No, because Donald Trump is not going to change. I'm surprised to some extent it was the co-vita episode, as Jim Acosta called it, that turned up one undecided voter around. That would be an Evita reference.

HOOVER: I recognized that, but --

AVLON: Jut checking. No, but, but --

HOOVER: That actually impacted many voters. Many Trump voters thought that that was a moment that really hurt --

AVLON: Look, the COVID response has been a real problem for this president with a lot of folks who have been wanting to stay with him for various reasons. But I just want to go back to the clip you saw where Trump -- President Trump keeps saying COVID, COVID, COVID.

That is an insult to the every single one of the more than 220,000 Americans who have died and their families. They are not distractions. I'm sorry that it's getting away in the way of the narrative the president would like to say, but we are in the middle of a pandemic and we are not turning round the corner. It is getting worse.

Friday, we hit a new all-time high. It's not that Mike Pence is going to give those folks COVID necessarily in that audience. It's that we have a fundamental problem in this country that it has exacerbated by the president spreading misinformation and disinformation where we cannot agree on common facts. That is a failure of leadership that is now expressing itself in a real, historic horrible death toll on his watch.

CABRERA: And so now we are seeing -- do you want to try to interrupt fast, Margaret?

HOOVER: I'm just going to say, just to bring the temperature down a little bit because --

AVLON: Sorry. I just --

HOOVER: I appreciate that, I mean, this is -- it is a very serious matter.

AVLON: Yes.

HOOVER: But from a purely political matter, Ana, the other piece of this is that the president's campaign has significantly less cash on hand than Donald Trump.

And so the reason you have to see Mike Pence in North Carolina and Donald Trump in Maine, and Donald Trump in Michigan where he's going to be going repeatedly over the next nine days, is that the only way they can be on TV is with earned media. So if he's out there doing rallies --

AVLON: It's an important point.

HOOVER: -- and saying the COVID, COVID, COVID, and doing anything to get media attention, his earned media is going to track even with Joe Biden's paid media. And that's why you see them doing this. They can't afford to take precautions, in their view.

CABRERA: Meantime you have Biden planning to campaign in Georgia this week, a state that hasn't gone blue since Bill Clinton in 1992. They're also sending Kamala Harris to Texas. So, what does that tell you about their campaigns thinking, John?

AVLON: Look, I mean, just look overall at the map. You see the Democrats trying to play in states that Donald Trump has won last time around or that where Democrats haven't won in a long time because the polling shows them they are close or slightly ahead, while Donald Trump is busy defending the areas he won last time around.

You want to find the truth in politics, follow the money, as Margaret just said. You follow the travel schedules. Donald Trump is playing defense, Democrats are playing offense. That's just what the map and the math tells you right now.

CABRERA: Do you think it's interesting, Margaret, that the president is in Maine? I mean, he's trying to pick up one electoral vote there that he went to Bangor, Maine? Is that how close he thinks the race is going to be?

HOOVER: I think it is evidence I think it's going to be close. I mean, yes, Ana. I mean, there -- it also helps with him the Senate. Remember, Susan Collins is actually closing in. There is very late recent internal polling from some of the congressional (inaudible). My husband is laughing at me, but we have a bet on this race.

[17:25:00]

And, you know, there is no -- I just want you -- Susan Collins' race in Maine, this is what we're talking about here. There is no incumbent senator from Maine that has ever lost their seat. And some of the recent polls, which my husband is laughing about. They are internal polls --

AVLON: No, no.

HOOVER: -- demonstrate that she is closing the gap. That's why he keeps laughing.

AVLON: No, no, no.

HOOVER: I don't blame Trump for going if he wants to hold the Senate.

AVLON: No. Look, normally I give great credit to my wife's psychic abilities, but in this case, the reason I'm laughing is because the Democrats have been putting up signs in Maine saying Trump/Collins. The last thing Susan Collins wants is Donald Trump being in Maine right now. She's trying to establish her independence from Donald Trump.

HOOVER: That's true. I don't think he was campaigning for her, to be fair, Ana, to your very good point. He is trying to rack up electoral votes, but it doesn't hurt with that solid base of enthusiast Trump supporters. They will also vote for Susan Collins.

CABRERA: I have to say, may be uncomfortable watching some of this video and seeing just how close the president was to these participants, his voters, these residents of Maine. And he wasn't wearing a mask just like he is there talking to this kid in this image.

In other -- the image we're just showing, there are multiple people around him without masks. And while he already had the coronavirus, there's still so much we don't know about immunity and the potential for re-infection. There have been cases of re-infection.

So, I just want to make sure our viewers know. You want to mask up even if you've already had it just to be safe. John Avlon, Margaret Hoover, thank you so much. I can't believe we're just a week away, practically. We'll see you next weekend for the big push.

AVLON: We are.

CABRERA: All right.

HOOVER: Bye.

CABRERA: A president trailing in the polls with just nine days to go, what is his strategy in this final stretch? Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein joins us with his new reporting, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

CABRERA: In the final sprint to Election Day, President Trump held a rally in New Hampshire this afternoon before he headed off to Maine. And here at this rally, he cast doubt again on the election process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was really impressed yesterday in Florida because there was no way there could be any cheating. There was no way. These people were great, the system is great, and there was no way you're voting twice, you're voting 20 times or you're not voting at all. It was a beautiful thing to see.

But the ballots are not that way. The ballots get handled by many, many people by the time they even get there. And it shouldn't be allowed. And the Democrats know it's a hoax and they know, and it's going to cause problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is no evidence to support the president's continued claim of widespread and systemic voter fraud with mail-in ballots. I want to bring in legendary journalist and CNN political analyst Carl Bernstein.

And Carl, this is a claim we hear from the president over and over again. We have to keep repeating the facts. You've been working your sources. What are you hearing about Trump's strategy in this final stretch?

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That he is intent on waging a scorched earth -- that was the term that was used by somebody in the White House to me, as scorched earth campaign in the final days, the likes of which we have never seen in this country, and it would have been unthinkable until Donald Trump came to occupy the presidency.

And it goes in two directions. One, as you just mentioned, to undermine and throw doubt and cast out on the very electoral system and so he can claim if he seems to be losing that it is a fraud and a hoax, but also the kind of personal attacks on Joe Biden, his family, Kamala Harris, her family, and others.

As well as attempts to get the attorney general of the United States to initiate some kind of an arrest on members of the -- literally, arrest members of the Biden family, perhaps Obama administration officials. He's also in a rage about all of this, just barking out orders to people around him to accomplish some of these outrageous things.

CABRERA: So the president is giving wishy-washy answers on whether he will accept the election results. What happens if Trump loses the election, but refuses to accept the results?

BERNSTEIN: Well, one, I don't think he's been wishy-washy about it. I think he's been very strenuous about telling people around him that he intends to use every tool at his command to see that there is no way that the Democrats and Joe Biden can win this election.

The only way would be a landslide that would be so undeniable that Republican senators on the Hill would have to go to Trump and tell him you cannot challenge this election. You cannot challenge these results because he is setting up an

apparatus and a methodology in which he intends to prolong the count to make it impossible perhaps for the Electoral College when it's supposed to meet to reach a majority.

That's part of his strategy so that there might not be a majority going for Joe Biden, and then the election would go to the House. But everything he is looking at, and I get some of this from Republicans on the Hill who are terribly, terribly concerned about what they regard as the president's brush with unconstitutional and unthinkable acts to undermine the electoral process.

And they are very, very worried about it. Many Republicans in the Senate who are trying to come together, several of them, maybe a dozen of them, to try and make a plan that if the president provokes a constitutional crisis, which they believe he will, they will try to find a way to let law and order and the constitution prevail.

[17:35:03]

CABRERA: So members of his own party are planning to take action if he does what he is sort of threatening to do.

BERNSTEIN: There's about 6, 8, 10 -- pardon me. Yes. There are about 6, 8, 10 members of the Senate, Republicans in the Senate who are talking with each other about how to restrain what they regard as an out-of-control, almost madman, to use the term of one of those senators, who is determined to do anything to hold on to office regardless of its legality, regardless of how far it crosses lines that are unthinkable in terms of authoritarianism.

They are very, very worried. And that also includes people who talk to Mitch McConnell, that they know that McConnell too is worried about what this president is liable to do. There is real concern because the Republican Party can be held responsible for his actions if they don't do something about his provocative acts to undermine the constitution, if he goes as far in the scorched-earth campaign as they fear he will, some of these senators.

CABRERA: You mentioned the president's urging of the attorney general and the Justice Department to open an investigation into his political opponents. So, I want to play something else. President Trump said this past week regarding his attorney general.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He is lucky that we have in our country and they don't appreciate, a wonderful human being and the most fair attorney general of the United States because I know people that would have had him locked up five weeks ago. Bill Barr is a very nice man and a very fair man.

Bill Barr is a wonderful human being and very fair person. And he's not a person who wants to hurt people. Just remember that. I say it, and I say it once. Just remember, because I get angry, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Carl, what do you hear in that?

BERNSTEIN: That he doesn't want to alienate the attorney general and he's still hoping and trying to get Barr to do his bidding and to come up with some way to indict Obama administration officials, perhaps release some information that should not be released in particular because it might not be true that the Justice Department is in possession of.

Any kind of smear that might make it possible for Trump to get more votes and to tar the Biden campaign, to tar Joe Biden, his family, the vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, anything possible that he can do and get Barr and others in the national security bureaucracy to do that would smear these people at the last moment, he is trying to accomplish.

And once again, the misuse of classified information has some of his national security deputies worried. The national security information will be selectively used to attack people in a way that is not true. Going from what's on social media and particularly in the right-wing social media, and getting members of his administration to continue to repeat it and repeat it and repeat it during the campaign including Vice President Pence.

This is about smears. This is about undermining the electoral process at the same time as the smearing is going on, and creating again, the scorched-earth campaign, and quite honestly and what I've been told, is you don't know what you're going to see yet because it is going to be something like of which we have never seen.

I took that when I heard that as a real threat to our democratic electoral process in this country. And I think there are those even around the president who are worried about his actions.

CABRERA: And we will be here to cover it all, all these officials accountable. Carl Bernstein, thank you very much for joining us.

After a race like no other at all ends here, join us for special coverage the way only CNN can bring it to you. From the first votes to the critical count, understand what is happening in your state and across the country. "Election Night in America," our special coverage starts Tuesday, November 3rd, at 4:00 p.m. eastern here on CNN.

It is not just the White House up for grabs, but the balance of power in the Senate and the House is at stake at well. And those results could make the president's job, whoever ends up being president, either harder or easier. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00]

CABRERA: Judge Amy Coney Barrett is one step closer to becoming a Supreme Court justice. The Senate today advancing Barrett's nomination with a key procedural vote, paving the way for tomorrow's confirmation vote.

All of this is happening with just nine days to go until Election Day after Democrats fail to delay Barrett's confirmation. So, let's get to Capitol Hill and our congressional reporter, Lauren Fox. Lauren, what are you hearing from key Republican senators ahead of this final confirmation vote on Judge Barrett?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONA REPORTER: Well, today we had two Republican senators during this procedural vote on Capitol Hill vote against Amy Coney Barrett's nomination. However, we expect that Lisa Murkowski, one of those Republicans who voted no today on this key procedural vote will actually vote yes tomorrow to confirm Amy Coney Barrett.

She essentially said that what she was concerned about was how close this was all happening to the election. However, she did not want to penalize the nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, and therefore she's going to support her tomorrow during this nomination.

We expect that Susan Collins will be the lone Republican voting against her tomorrow. And we should note that she's up for re-election in the state of Maine. Ana?

[17:45:01]

CABRERA: There's another curveball here because at least five members of Vice President Mike Pence's inner circle have tested positive for COVID-19 as we've been reporting. So, is the vice president still planning to attend Barrett's confirmation tomorrow?

FOX: Well, you're right. I mean, that is really one of the key questions going into tomorrow. And I actually asked the majority whip, John Thune, about this earlier today. He said that it's really up to Mike Pence. Remember, that they don't need Pence to be presiding over this vote because he has to be some kind of tiebreaker.

They have the votes that they need. Like I said, they only have one Republican defection tomorrow, but one of the key questions is whether or not he will attend and Democrats are furious about the prospect of Pence coming to Capitol Hill. Here is what the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer said just a few hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The vice president, who's been exposed to five people with COVID-19 will ignore CDC guidelines to be here tomorrow, putting the health of everyone who works in this building at risk. It sets a terrible, terrible example for the American people.

And nothing could be a more apt metaphor for what's going on here. The Republican Party is willing to ignore the pandemic to rush this Supreme Court nomination forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And we asked again Thune whether or not he thought that Mike Pence should be coming to Capitol Hill. And one point that he made that I think is important to underscore is that, you know, the vice president is tested regularly for coronavirus. He did test negative this morning.

And we expect that he would be tested again tomorrow, but that, of course, is a sticking point going into the vote tomorrow evening, whether or not the vice president will actually attend that vote in person. Ana?

CABRERA: Okay, Lauren Fox, keep us posted. Thanks.

And thanks to the founding fathers, it's not how many votes, but where they come from. CNN's Harry Enten breaks down the must-win states for both Trump and Biden.

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[17:50:00]

CABRERA: Breaking news right now. We have just learned pre-election voting for the November election has surged past all 2016 early ballots cast and we still have nine days left until Election Day. So more than 58.7 million Americans have voted so far. This is according to a survey of election officials in all 50 states, in Washington, D.C. by CNN, Edison Research, and Catalist.

It's not just the White House that's up for grabs, of course, in nine days. The balance of power in the Senate is also at stake. And those results could make the job of whoever is president much easier or much more difficult.

Here to break it down for all us, CNN Senior Political Writer and Analyst, Harry Enten.

Harry, it is crunch time, just over a week to go. What is the current forecast for what the Senate might look like?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: Sure. You know, look, coming into this election, obviously Republicans have control of the Senate. They have 53 seats to the Democrats 47. At this point it does look like Democrats are favored to take control. The forecast right now is for the Democrats to get up to 51 seats, which would give them a bare majority.

I should point out that this race does remain within the margin of error. And you can sort of see that when you look at the individual races, right? What you see right now is on the Democratic side, there are five seats where Democrats look like they are favored at this point to pick up seats.

Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina. But look at both North Carolina and Iowa. Those races are really, really tight. And at this point, it looks like the Republicans are probably going to pick up one seat in Alabama. That's Doug Jones' deat obviously that flipped in the 2017 special election. Right now, Democrats are favored but it is a close race. CABRERA: Okay, let's turn to presidential race then. Who has the

easier path to 270 electoral votes?

ENTEN: Yes. I mean, right now, look, it's former Vice President Joe Biden. You can see that best in the seven closest contests from the 2016 election that Trump won, and you can see that Biden does lead in all of those contests but in Florida and North Carolina it is well within the margin of error.

And I would point out that perhaps the race is a little bit closer than it was a week ago, but in places like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nebraska's second congressional district, and Michigan it's pretty clear iden has the advantage.

CABRERA: OK, so let's drill down. What are some of Biden's easiest paths?

ENTEN: Yes. I think this sort of gets at it, right. The first, the easiest path by far is to essentially win the Clinton states and then add in the states in which Biden holds a five-point lead even if Trump won them.

So we're talking about places like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, that Nebraska second congressional district that I mentioned. And this even affords Biden the potential to lose in places like Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona where he does hold a polling lead.

The second best path for Biden at this point is let's just say he loses in a place like Pennsylvania, but then he holds onto the states where he holds a four-point lead or more in the polls in both September and October.

[17:54:53]

That gets Biden to exactly 270 electoral votes because he wins in Arizona, Nebraska's second congressional district, Wisconsin and Michigan. Although again, in this path he loses in both Florida and North Carolina.

CABRERA: I'm up against the end of the hour here, so in 30 seconds, give us Trump's path?

ENTEN: Yes. Trump's best path is pretty simple. He's got to win Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, and then he's got to win a Midwestern state in which Joe Biden is leading in right now, places like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. If Trump doesn't break through in the Midwest, there's basically no way he can get through to 270 electoral votes.

CABRERA: Okay. Thank you so much. As always, Harry, good to see you.

I want to show you live images right now. The vice president set to speak in North Carolina after a coronavirus outbreak in his inner circle. So the second outbreak in the White House. At least five top aides infected. Pence is staying on the trail, though, instead of going into quarantine. You can see live images. His plane has touched down in North Carolina ahead of his rally there. Our live coverage continues in just a moment.

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