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At Least Five Pence Aides Test Positive For COVID-19; White House Tried To Keep Outbreak In VP's Inner Circle Quiet; Biden And Harris React To Virus Outbreak Among Pence's Staff; Trump's Path To The White House Runs Through Florida Suburbs; Voter Intimidation Concerns Rise As Election Day Nears; Pence Staffer Gives CNN Update On Coronavirus Symptoms; El Paso To Implement Two-Week Curfew. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 25, 2020 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:30]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for being with us on this Sunday evening. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. As if there was any doubt that these last nine days before the election were going to be wild, add this into the mix. Another coronavirus outbreak at the White House.

You're looking at the head of the Coronavirus Task Force, Vice President Mike Pence, campaigning in North Carolina just a short time ago after news that five of his aides have tested positive for coronavirus. That includes his chief of staff, Marc Short, and his bodyman, Zach Bower, whose job is to accompany the vice president both day and night.

According to CDC guidelines, Pence, the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, should be in quarantine. Instead, the vice president plans to spend the remaining nine days crisscrossing the country, campaigning for a second term, while denying a second wave of the pandemic.

Now, on top of that, we saw President Trump campaigning in Maine today without a mask. There you see him getting up close to voters, signing hats. He was giving fist bumps. It was just over three weeks ago he was hospitalized with coronavirus.

CNN's Natasha Chen joins us now in Kingston, North Carolina, where Vice President Pence just wrapped up speaking, and CNN White House correspondent John Harwood is standing by at the White House for us.

Natasha, did Pence ever talk about the coronavirus outbreak among his aides in his remarks?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, he did not speak directly about the outbreak among his staff. We did notice that when he left just a few moments ago he waved to everyone, jogged back to Air Force Two the way he came in, and put his mask on as he entered the plane. We noticed his staffers were also wearing masks. So that's something we don't always see.

Here at this event, before it started, there was an announcement telling people that masks are required. We found some people wearing them, some people not. And so nobody was really policing that or trying to tell people to put their masks on at all. And also the area right here behind us where there are a lot of folding chairs were separated at first with parties distanced from the next group of chairs. But before the event started, really everyone just moved those chairs up for a better spot, really not putting any distance between themselves and the next party.

I found it striking that Vice President Pence did talk a lot about why the president should be re-elected. Part of his argument was that -- that this is a very pro-life president. He mentioned Judge Amy Coney Barrett being a pro-life judge but did not mention the more than 225,000 lives that have been lost from this pandemic. As far as COVID- 19 goes, he touted President Trump's ban on travel to and from China in the beginning saying that that saved lives, and he also said that a vaccine would be coming soon.

So that's the extent to which he discussed the coronavirus. Really focusing on how this administration would bring the economy back from where it is right now, Ana.

CABRERA: OK, Natasha, thank you.

John, this isn't the first coronavirus outbreak the White House has had to manage. And yet they continue to really be hush-hush. How is the White House responding to this? Because there hasn't been any transparency. We've just been finding out, learning, as we've been reporting.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Ana, it's the same sequence of events that we got from the earlier outbreak when Hope Hicks first was diagnosed and then the president later was -- later on that same evening. No disclosure until the news broke. That's what happened in this case. Some of the vice president's aides were diagnosed earlier in the week. They did not disclose it. The news broke last night.

And what we saw today was the president, vice president, both were out on the trail. President Trump was out saying, we're rounding the turn on the coronavirus. He did not appear with a mask. He campaigned in Maine at an apple orchard. Got very close to people who were not masked up. So the president's trying to convey a sense of normalcy and get off of the subject of the coronavirus.

And his White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, told Jake Tapper today that the White House is not even believing that it has a chance of controlling the pandemic. Take a listen.

(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 mitigation -- JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, STATE OF THE UNION: Why aren't we going to

get control of the pandemic?

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

TAPPER: Yes, but why not make efforts to contain it?

[19:05:02]

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't 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARWOOD: And, of course, Ana, we all remember from earlier in the year the president of the United States downplaying the pandemic repeatedly along with his aides insisting that it was under control. Now they're simply waving the white flag and saying we're waiting for therapeutics and a vaccine.

CABRERA: All right. John Harwood at the White House for us. Natasha Chen in Kinston, North Carolina. Thank you both.

Earlier this month, Biden's running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, was pulled off the campaign trail for several days out of an abundance of caution after her communications director tested positive for the coronavirus. She now says Vice President Mike Pence should do the same.

CNN's Jessica Dean is following this for us.

Jessica, what more are we hearing now from the Biden-Harris campaign?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good evening to you, Ana. You're exactly right. And when Harris was pulled off the campaign trail, you'll remember, she had not had what would be deemed close contact with that aide once they had tested positive. But they really did that out of an abundance of caution. And she was off the trail for several days. She was asked today what she thought about Mike Pence continuing to campaign. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), 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) DEAN: Now we also got a statement from Vice President Joe Biden today generally about the Trump administration's response to COVID-19 and Mark Meadows, what he had to say earlier today which we just heard with John Harwood there. And Vice President Biden saying the Trump administration is waving the white flag when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic and essentially just giving up.

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic and the Trump administration's response to it has been absolutely central to the Biden campaign's closing message to voters, Ana. That has been an issue they have come back to again and again. It has been central to their argument all along. But even more so now as we're seeing cases and record numbers as we head into the final stretch of this campaign.

The Biden campaign will continue to talk about that. It is where they believe they can really create one of the starkest contrasts between a Biden-Harris administration and a Trump administration in terms of what Vice President Joe Biden would plan to do to get this pandemic under control, what they would plan to do with the potential vaccine and on and on and on. So we will hear more of that in these next nine days, that we have left before the election.

CABRERA: All right. It's a sprint from here on out. Jessica Dean in Wilmington, Delaware. Thank you.

I want to bring in now CNN senior political analyst and senior editor of "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein. Also with us is Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Schaffner also spent time at the CDC as an epidemic intelligence service officer.

So it's so great to have both of you here with us. Ron, let me start you and just the politics. Why do you think the White House hasn't pulled Pence off the trail?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, the medium is the message here. I mean, you know, doesn't matter what vice president or the president say from this stage. The loudest message they are sending to the public is through the way they are conducting these rallies and conducting themselves. And that message is they prioritize reopening the economy really from the beginning. They prioritize reopening the economy in every possible way over public health.

And that no matter how many people get sick, no matter how many people die, no matter how long they're in office, they are not going to take this more seriously than they have so far. And that in many ways, Ana, I think is his closing message to the country. I mean, he is, as often is the case, speaking to a minority, roughly the 35 percent of the country that says open up at all costs, they're ideologically opposed to masks.

But for the 60 percent of the country who said from the beginning that they disapprove of the way he's handled this, he's basically telling them, don't expect anything different.

CABRERA: The former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, he wrote an op-ed for the "Wall Street Journal," saying it's time to consider a temporary mask mandate. Dr. Fauci on Friday said he thinks a mask mandate might be good.

Dr. Schaffner, what do you think? Is it time for a mask mandate?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Well, we certainly all -- Ana, we certainly all ought to be wearing masks every time we walk out of our front door and any contact we have with other people. You know, wearing a mask is an inconvenience. We don't like the way it looks and it's kind of dorky. And yes, it's a little bit more difficult to breathe. But it's life-saving.

It will make all of us together work to reduce the transmission of this virus. And so it's something we all ought to be doing. Whether we do it on a voluntary basis or an obligatory basis, we really need to do that in order to keep this outbreak under some sort of control.

[19:10:10]

You know, if you wait for treatments, that means people are already in the hospital. A vaccine, yes, we want that, but it's not going to be sufficient. If you wear a vaccine -- if you get a vaccine, you'll still have to be wearing the mask. That's a message that hasn't really gotten out there to everyone because we don't think these vaccines are going to be 100 percent effective so wearing the mask, that should be the new normal for all of us.

CABRERA: I hope everybody is listening out there because what we are being told by the modelers at the University of Washington is that right now they believe only 49 percent of Americans are wearing a mask in public settings.

At these political events, Ron, oftentimes we have the president or vice president on stage surrounded by people who are wearing masks behind them, yet everyone else in the actual crowd, they're packed together, many people aren't wearing masks. Why the political theater?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, look, he's made mask wearing -- the president has made mask-wearing into, like, another one of the culture wars, you know, and I've said many times in this presidency when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. No matter -- whenever he's presented with a challenge, his instinct is to kind of fall back on cultural and racial division, and in this case I think what they did was they essentially made mask wearing an attempt by elites, medical, you know, experts are really elites who want to run your life and tell you how to live your life.

And this has had enormous consequence, I think, not only in the behavior of his supporters but also the pressure that the president placed on Republican governors. I mean, you can't overstate the impact of the decisions in Florida, in Georgia, in Texas, and in Arizona, to avoid closing, to re-open early, to override local mask ordinances. And I think all of that was heavily influenced by the fear of getting on the wrong side of the president as he tried to make this kind of a culture division. But again, he's talking to, what, 25 percent of the country that is

ideologically opposed to masks? That is his strategy, deepen his base rather than broaden but he is really looking at the small side of the field on this.

CABRERA: I want to go back to that video that we showed earlier with John Harwood in Maine, where the president today was at this apple orchard and was meeting very close to supporters, voters who wanted him to sign hats and wanted to get, you know, a little bit of time with the president. And you could see, he's not wearing a mask. Many of the people in the crowd aren't wearing masks. It doesn't appear that they're six feet apart. There's no social distancing.

Dr. Schaffner, what's your reaction when you see this video?

SCHAFFNER: Well, it clearly saddens me, of course, because that's exactly the environment -- although it's on the outside, nonetheless, it's the environment in which this COVID virus likes to spread. It likes people close together being excited, breathing heavily. And that actually provides the opportunity for the virus to spread. These are all potentially accelerator events. You spread it among the people there, they take it home, give it to their family members and neighbors, and that keeps the whole epidemic revved up.

That's actually the opposite of what we can do. One can go to these rallies and be happy but still wear their mask and be socially distant. Yes, we can engage in society. We can open up again. We must open up again. But we need to do it carefully, rather than carelessly.

CABRERA: He's giving fist bumps. And I'm just looking at the people next to the president. His Secret Service team that's part of this event with him. And they're also having to stand so close to many people without masks. And we know that there's asymptomatic transmission, pre-symptomatic transmission is a big thing, too.

Ron, do you think the handling of these White House outbreaks and just the way the president or the vice president have been conducting themselves at these rallies, really downplaying the coronavirus, in some cases making fun of the concern over COVID-19. Will it change any votes?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I think it has been an enormous political miscalculation as well as a public health catastrophe from the beginning. I mean, the president's choice right from the outset was to project normalcy at all costs, whatever the impact of public health, whatever was actually going on in the real world, try to tell the American people that, you know, what they were seeing in their daily lives was not really happening.

And he's left himself in a position where from the beginning 60 percent of the country has said they did not think he took it seriously enough, they do not think he's listening to the scientists and they do not believe that -- you know, that he is providing truthful information about it. So, as is often the case, as I said, his strategy is to play to that minority that views all of this as something between a hoax and an ideological inconvenience. But I do think that going out and behaving in this way overshadows

anything else he could possibly say. His closing message to the country is that no matter how bad this gets, don't expect anything different from me. And that is, I think, a tough way to end the campaign when we're looking at a record caseload.

[19:15:08]

CABRERA: Speaking of records, early voting has already surpassed the 2016 election early vote. And we still have nine days to go. More than 58.7 million Americans have voted.

What does that tell you, Ron?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, a lot. First of all, it tells you a lot of people are going to vote. 138 million people voted in 2016. There are estimates we could be in the high 150s, 157, 158. If it's that high, the turnout will be the highest it's been as a share of eligible voters since before women had the right to vote.

You know, you can't automatically assume that this is good for the Democrats because the -- probably the greatest skill the president has shown is the ability to turn out large numbers of his supporters and there are Democrats who are worried about how many non-college and non-urban whites are showing up in the Midwest.

But overall, if you look at the numbers in the big urban centers, places like Harris County, Houston, Texas, where over a million people have already voted. What we're seeing in the Atlanta metro area, you are seeing the big population centers that have moved away from the GOP, that recoiled from Trump's definition of the Republican Party, voting in big numbers and it's going to be awful hard for him to find enough rural voters in places that are stagnant or shrinking in population to offset, that if in fact we see the kind of margins that are possible.

It is possible that, for example, Harris and Travis Counties in Texas will give Biden double the margin that Hillary Clinton got four years ago, potentially a million-vote margin in the largest metros in Texas which is why that state which has been so reliably Republican since '76, even Texas is on the knife's edge at this point.

CABRERA: And in the fact, we know that the Biden campaign has plans to go to Texas with Senator Harris.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

CABRERA: That's on her agenda. Thank you so much, Ron Brownstein, Dr. Schaffner, great to see you as well. I really appreciate both of you joining us. Thanks.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

CABRERA: Florida has picked the next president in all but one election since 1964. Does either campaign have a path to 270 without that state? We'll take a look at the numbers next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:21:07]

CABRERA: In a sign of just how important the state of Florida will be in this election, former president Obama will be head back to the Sunshine State to stump for his former vice president Joe Biden in Orlando on Tuesday. He was just in Miami yesterday. So, as the Biden campaign is banking on Obama's political star power to court voters there in Florida, President Trump's path to re-election goes straight through the Florida suburbs.

CNN's John King is at the magic wall to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS: Florida is always a presidential battleground. Here's the big difference in 2020 compared to 2016. It is now President Trump's home state.

Let's use the 2016 map and look at a couple of things that were critical to the president in 2016 that might be a little different as we go into 2020. Like, look at this back in 2016. Number one, just look. Yes, President Trump won, but only by 113,000 votes. Just shy of that. So it was close in Florida as it often is.

Why did he win? Look at the 17-point advantage Donald Trump had among voters over the age of 65. 21 percent of the electorate, a giant lead, older voters were key to President Trump. So were women in a sense that Hillary Clinton won women with 50 percent to 46 percent, but that's more than half of the electorate. The president essentially held his own among women.

Can he do that in 2020? Polls late in the race do show Joe Biden doing even better than Hillary Clinton among women and Joe Biden turning things around among senior citizens. That will be something important to watch. When you look at the map, three things about Florida. Number one, the farther south you go the further north you get. Meaning down here in Palm Beach County, in Broward County, and in Miami-Dade County.

You have a lot of retirees who started in the northeast. More liberal, more Democratic voters. That's why you see it as blue. Joe Biden must run it up down here on the southeast coast among voters who tend to be Democrats, a lot of them tend to be from the northeast. Number two, President Trump must run it up northern Florida. Here in the north, but it votes like the south. Georgia and Alabama.

These counties here, look at some of these counties from back in 2016. You just pull up some of the margins. Yes, not a lot of votes. But look how big the numbers are. The president must run it up again. The Trump base must turn out in smaller, rural, working-class communities. Then you have the competition in the central part of the state, and this used to be called a battle for independents. I would call it now a battle for the suburbs. What happens in Orlando?

Do the Democrats win not only in Orlando but in the growing suburbs? And if there's one place you want to watch on election day, it was key back in 2016, one of the first signs President Trump's voters were coming out, Pinellas County, the home of St. Petersburg, to the west of Tampa. Again, a suburban area here, a key for the president four years ago but it was very close.

Will Joe Biden perform better in the suburbs? That will be a key test in battleground Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Our thanks to John King. And with us now is CNN political commentator Van Jones who served in the Obama administration and worked with the Trump administration as well on the passage of the First Step Act on criminal justice reform.

So, Van, President Obama has a Tuesday event in Orlando. This will be his second trip to the Sunshine State for the former president in three days. What is the strategy, do you think, behind President Obama campaigning there twice versus heading to another state, say, Michigan or Wisconsin?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, you're putting together that old buddy movie, you know, Barack and Biden, and, you know, you're basically forcing Trump to deal with his home state. His home -- his so-called home base is Florida. And you put the biggest star in the party right there, you just let him sit on top of that, say, like a hurricane that just won't leave. And you force Trump to defend there.

Look, Barack Obama has not lost anything. If anything, he's more engaging, more relaxed, more engaging, unbelievable surrogate for Biden and he's doing a great job.

CABRERA: We know Florida, of course, voted for Obama twice before voting for Trump in 2016. I want to play something President Obama said yesterday about what an America after a Trump presidency might look like.

[19:25:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: You'll be able to go about your lives knowing that the president is not going to suggest injecting bleach or retweet conspiracy theories about secret cabals running the world. We won't have a president who threatens people with jail for just criticizing him.

That's not normal behavior, Florida. You wouldn't tolerate it from a co-worker. You wouldn't tolerate it from a high school principal. You wouldn't tolerate it from a coach. You wouldn't tolerate it from a family member.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Do you think that's an effective message to sway undecided voters there in Florida?

JONES: I think, first of all, it's great for the base in terms of rallying the base. I think a big part of the people's frustration with the Trump presidency is just all the norm busting and all the rule bending that's been going on. And I do think that the comparison between Obama's appeal to kind of common sense and good order versus the stuff that Trump does when he's on the -- it makes a great contrast and great comparison.

And I think, look, Obama won that state twice. He's down there causing -- I'm sure he's giving Trump fits down there, like I say, like a big hurricane that won't leave the state and I think he's going to have big results.

CABRERA: We've already seen record turnout for early voting in states all across the country right now both by mail and in-person. That according to a survey of election officials by CNN, Edison Research and Catalyst, more than 58 million ballots have already been cast.

You shared a video with us about the importance of voting and the patience we all need in waiting for the results. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Gary, have you voted yet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. This year, it's such a mess. I'm sorry, how do you know my name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Gary. I'm going to sing now.

(Singing) It's in the Constitution and it's in the Bill of Rights. It's threaded through the fabric of our land. From the shores of Pensacola to the streets of Shaker Heights every loyal citizen has come to understand. Each person gets a vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Singing) Every hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Singing) Every jerk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Singing) And we have to count them all because that's democracy at work. We count, yes, we count whether in person or by mail, the process will prevail. We count, oh we count, and with so many states and people in charge and buckets of ballots in such a large amount. It's going to take some time to count.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: It's going to take some time to count. Why is it so important for people to listen to that message?

JONES: It's just really important because ordinarily you'd expect there to be kind of election night, by the time you go to bed you know who won. Because there's so many mail-in votes and early votes and different rules, we may have election week. It may be Saturday, it may be Thanksgiving before they're all counted.

And what's so great about this, you can get this video at 2020wecount.com. And the voice you may recognize, that was Jim Parsons from the "Big Bang Theory," You know, people are just trying to remind people, calm down. In America every vote counts. Every vote matters. It may take us a while to get there but we will get to the end of this thing.

And, you know, Reid Hoffman is one of the great giants in Silicon Valley got behind this. And Steve Bodo who's with Hassan Minaj. A big collaboration of talent to get this thing put together at 2020wecount.com.

I don't want people to freak out if it takes several days or even several weeks. The most important thing is we get an accurate count.

CABRERA: Absolutely. And that every vote counts because we know in some states, including some of the crucial states that could decide this election, sometimes the absentee ballot processing even as people are voting now, they don't start processing those ballots until election day. Sometimes election night. And of course that takes some time. The reason why it's going to take a while, perhaps, to get the vote.

Thank you so much, Van Jones. Good to see you.

After a race like no other, it all ends here. Join us for 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 all across the country. "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA." Our special coverage starts Tuesday, November 3rd, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:52]

CABRERA: The Director of National Intelligence says Russia and Iran are using voter rolls to try to spread disinformation ahead of Election Day. Meanwhile, election officials are focusing on rooting out voter intimidation at polling places as millions of Americans make plans now to vote in person in this final stretch of the race. CNN's Pamela Brown has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With the election less than two weeks away, voter intimidation is coming to the forefront.

Election officials in Florida and Alaska went to the F.B.I. after dozens of people reported receiving e-mails threatening to vote for Trump, or else. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN KENNELLY, FLORIDA VOTER: I think calling it out and letting it be seen for what it is will hopefully encourage people to ignore it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): The e-mail was made to look like it came from a far right group, the Proud Boys, the extremist group Trump failed to disavow at the last debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Proud Boys, stand back and standby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): But Proud Boys have denied involvement. And a CNN analysis found the e-mails were actually sent in a sophisticated way, routed through foreign servers.

More cries of possible voter intimidation in Miami, a police officer in full uniform wearing a Trump mask inside a polling place called out by the mayor.

[19:35:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCIS SUAREZ (R), MAYOR OF MIAMI, FLORIDA: His actions have violated departmental policy; and he will be disciplined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): And, in Memphis, a poll worker was fired for asking voters to turn their Black Lives Matter shirts inside out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE THOMPSON, SHELBY COUNTY, TENNESSEE, ELECTION COMMISSION: This particular incident was the bad behavior of one poll worker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): Tennessee laws ban any clothing worn to polling places that endorses a political candidate or party. Social justice messages like BLM are allowed.

But, overall, early voting remains in high gear. More than 40 million ballots have been cast nationwide so far. It is clear many Americans have been relying on the Post Office to deliver their votes, but as Election Day approaches, Michigan's Secretary of State is encouraging voters to turn ballots in personally to drop boxes or their county clerk's office, if they can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOCELYN BENSON, MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: There are a lot of uncertainties and variables with the Postal Service.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): A new Post Office Inspector General report finds the Post Office never investigated how controversial cuts to service in the summer would affect mail delivery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENSON: My office used the CARES Act funding from the Federal government to install close to 1,000 -- over a thousand drop boxes all around the state for that very reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): The Postmaster General, who has defended the cuts as nonpolitical, postponed the changes, but on-time mail delivery is still suffering and triggering new lawsuits.

In North Carolina, an Appeals Court upheld the state's deadline to receive absentee ballots nine days after Election Day. A decision Republicans are signaling they will challenge at the Supreme Court.

The second win for Democrats, on Monday, the High Court handed down a ruling allowing mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania to count if they are received within three days of November 3rd.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Or thanks to Pam brown there. As coronavirus cases surge across the country, officials in one Texas City are imploring residents to stay inside for the next two weeks. We'll talk to the Mayor of El Paso next. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:41:15]

CABRERA: Welcome back. The Vice President's Chief of Staff, Mars Short, one of the five Pence aides currently infected with coronavirus just gave an update to CNN on his condition. He tells our John Harwood quote, "I'm doing okay. Hard to know if the symptoms are COVID related or four years of working at the White House. Symptoms are mild."

Now despite an outbreak in his inner circle and the potential exposure that comes with it, Vice President Mike Pence is continuing to campaign.

Let's head to El Paso, Texas where coronavirus cases have spiked to the point that officials there are asking residents to stay home for the next two weeks in an effort to stop the spread.

And joining us now is the Mayor of El Paso, Dee Margo. Mayor, I'm sorry to have to talk about what is happening there. It sounds very urgent. We're now hearing reports of a curfew. Can you tell us the latest about what's going on?

MAYOR DEE MARGO (R), EL PASO, TEXAS: Our County Judge is implementing a two-week curfew that the city will follow under Texas law. The governor controls and the County Judge and in the Mayor follows irrespective of size or population and that's where we are. So we've had parallel orders.

But we're just trying to stop this outbreak. I instituted some limitations last Thursday, and also the Thursday before when we started seeing significant spikes. It's not something we want to lead the nation in or be even in the top to end with. But we've just had some significant spikes in positives.

Now we're testing more. We've had significant spikes to the point that our hospital capacity is really tapped. We're probably at the end of our rope there.

CABRERA: When you say end of the rope, I understand the Governor has sent hundreds of medical personnel to your city to help caring for these patients, and I also believe there are some alternate care sites being set up, right, at the Convention Center there in El Paso is one of them to help expand the hospital capacity in the region.

What is the situation with hospital capacity? Is it 100 percent? What about your ICUs? And what about the potential for the healthcare system just to be overwhelmed?

MARGO: We're not quite at 100 percent capacity. The governor has been sent in over 800 personnel to support, plenty of PPE. We've got four pressurized tents that have been set up at some of the direct -- at the hospitals which can provide care. We're looking at an alternate care side at our Convention Center.

But what we're really petitioning for, through H.H.S. and F.E.M.A. and the Department of Defense is to be able to use the William Beaumont Army Medical Center for non-COVID patience or overflow.

And we're still waiting to hear through all the channels from Washington through DoD, whether or not we can have that approval accepted.

But it's not good here at all. I mean, we had to start out 1,161 positives on Thursday of last week, and then on Saturday, we announced, yesterday 1,216. Today was down, but that's also because we don't have all of the private labs reported yet.

CABRERA: Why the surge? What's going on in your community that may have led to this surge in cases and hospitalizations?

MARGO" We're not sure exactly where. I think, it's just community spread and people letting down their guards, but we did an analysis for two weeks on 2,404 cases from October 6th through October 20th and what we found out is that 37 percent of our positives were from visiting large big box stores, 22.5 percent were restaurants, 19 percent were travel to Mexico and 10 percent were parties and reunions and 7.5 percent were gyms and only four percent were large gatherings.

We just think people have let down their guards. Shopping in El Paso is a cultural event with multiple -- with families and we're saying stop that. Only have one individual go to the store for you, unless you're a single parent and have to take your children.

We've we shut down restaurants to close their kitchen services at 9:00 p.m. over a week ago, waiting to see what happens there. Travel to Mexico is also a problem. I mean, we're the largest binational, bilingual, bicultural region in the world and the largest U.S. city on the Mexican border.

We've been -- family on both sides, culture on both sides and commerce on both sides for 350 years, and so that's a problem, at least going back and forth.

CABRERA: And so it is all-hands on deck trying to get this under control. And of course, it's just nine days away now until the election, the President, he doesn't want to talk about the coronavirus. Listen to what he said this weekend.

(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 a television: COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. A plane goes down, 500 people dead. They don't talk about it.

COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. By the way on November 4th, you won't hear about it anyway.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

TRUMP: That's true. COVID, COVID.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Mayor, is that helpful?

MARGO: I'm just trying to focus on what we have here and deal with the issues we have here. Juarez, Mexico is pretty much shut down, even more so than we have. That's part of our problem. Nonessential travel is restricted. Our bridges --

CABRERA: But you said people are letting down their guard and the President is suggesting -- he is making fun of the concern over COVID right now. That kind of messaging can't be helping your situation, can it?

MARGO: Our message is, don't let down your guard. Wear your face coverings. Maintain your distancing. Avoid large gatherings. Avoid the family gatherings.

We're concerned as we approach Thanksgiving, we're concerned about that. We're more concerned about Halloween and the Day of the Dead which is a big issue around here.

We have stopped Halloween. I've said no door to door, trick or treating. You can do drive by truck type things potentially.

We've shut our parks down to sports and team sports, only walking and the use of the playground equipment. That's it.

The schools are going by. We're doing the best we can we think we know how to do to stop this. That's what our focus is.

CABRERA: Well, you're in the thick of it, and El Paso Mayor, Dee Margo, we wish you the very best. Good luck in trying to get control over this outbreak and thank you for sharing with us and enlightening us in terms of the reality right now on what is happening in your city. We wish you the best.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:52:56]

CABRERA: Trump boat parades, car caravans, dune buggy rallies -- what's behind their support for the president? Here is CNN's Elle Reeve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like alpha males. I think President Trump is an alpha male.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whenever I watch the news, it seems like they're bagging on Trump. They make it sound like nobody is going to vote for him. But we feel like we all need to get together just to show people that hey, there are people that are going to vote for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the Dunes and Deplorables Let Freedom Ride Trump Rally Protest. It was unfurling a 30 foot by 50 foot American flag having everybody gather around, play the National Anthem, and just be able to be with a bunch of friends and families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Unofficial Trump events like this have been happening all over the country. Boat parades, car caravans bike parades. What attendees have in common is disposable income to spend on fun.

While Trump's working class supporters have gotten lots of attention. In 2016, a third of his voters made more than $100,000.00 a year. In fact, support for Trump is particularly strong among white voters who have high incomes for their area, the locally rich.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL VELUSCEK, TRUMP SUPPORTER: The people on the left that really think we are deplorable think we are deplorable. If hanging out with families, bringing your kids out and having a good time is deplorable, then I guess, we'll take it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REEVE (voice over): I went for a ride in the dunes with Eric Nelson who has been riding motorcycles since he was 14.

Eric drove two hours to come to the rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC NELSON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Hopefully, you heard her scream.

REEVE: Yes, that's what the mic is for.

NELSON: The reason we're here supporting Trump is because we believe that Trump will help us be able to keep the money that we make and let us be able to work as hard as we want and not give our money away.

People like Nancy Pelosi can, you know get her funding through this, just give money to people that aren't willing to work for it.

I've worked for it all my life. I had to work to put myself through college so I can get a job and do what I enjoy, which is an activity like this and spend, you know $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 on toys because I choose to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He really is for your hardworking people. Do I think he's racist? No. I think he's racist against lazy people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REEVE (voice over): The rally was mostly men. That's no surprise given national polls. Men are much more likely to support Trump than women, and what these men said they liked about Trump is that he is a guy who is just like them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not a politician. He's one of us. Yes, he's one of us on steroids because he runs a great big business and makes a lot more money than we do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can be crass, but we didn't hire him as a President. We hired him because he was a business person and that's what America needed because our country was starting to tank.

REEVE (on camera): But then part of his job being like a moral leader?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe so.

REEVE: You don't think so?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he says things that upsets people and we just don't care. And we think he is helping all those people because they don't fully understand what's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REEVE: Elle Reeve, CNN, Winchester Bay, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: That does it for me, I'm Ana Cabrera. Thank you for being with me tonight. My colleague, Wolf Blitzer is up next after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:00:00]