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U.S. Sets New 7-Day Average Record of More Than 68,000 New Cases; Mike Pence to Stay on Campaign Trail Despite Outbreak in Inner Circle; Trump Holds Rallies in a Key State of Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Voters Express Concerns About Biden's Comments on Fracking; White House and Speaker Pelosi Trade Blame As Stimulus Talks Drag On. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 26, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:24]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

Eight days to go and at the same time as the nation prepares for a critical election, it's here. The record-setting surge of coronavirus cases that health experts have been warning us about really all year. The seven-day average of new infections is now at the highest point. That's right, the highest point, just look at that graph there, since the start of this pandemic. And 37 states are seeing surges.

And while the president still claims we are as a nation rounding the corner, his own chief of staff is saying, well, the exact opposite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: 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?

MEADOWS: Well, we are making efforts to contain it. And that's --

TAPPER: By running all over the country not wearing a mask?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, this morning, so the White House is now trying to clean up those claims by Meadows, even as five staffers in the vice president's inner circle have now tested positive for COVID-19. Still, that has not stopped the vice president from hitting the campaign trail despite the fact, let us remind you, that official CDC guidance says people who have been exposed to COVID-19 even with no symptoms should, quote, "self-quarantine for 14 days from their last potential exposure."

Right now it is the final sprint for both campaigns as they ramp up stops across the country. Let's begin this hour with our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Good morning, Elizabeth. Despite all of this, you've got these spikes that the doctors have been warning about for months.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy. That is true, and now we are seeing what doctors have been warning about for a very long time, as Dr. Peter Hotez has said. We are in for a dark winter and we are starting to see that.

Let's take a look at this map. If you look at the states in red and orange, that's where coronavirus cases are going up. That is 37 states, the numbers are going up, about six of them by a large amount, by more than 50 percent, when you compare last week to the previous week. The states in yellow where it's holding steady, that's only 13 states, and in no states are the numbers going down unfortunately.

Now let's take a look at this. Look to the far right of your screen. You will see that we broke a record on Friday, and not in a good way. More than 80,000 cases in one day. That is the first time that we have hit that number. So the highest number of new COVID cases since the pandemic began even higher, Poppy, than in the spring.

SCIUTTO: Elizabeth, so a vaccine is coming, big question as to when it's available to broad sections of the population, but on children. CNN has learned that many pharmacies, they're saying they will not vaccinate children against the flu? What does this mean for folks, parents like us, people with children they're concerned about?

COHEN: It means that you will be inconvenienced. It means that it will be harder to get a flu shot because you will be going to your pediatrician, instead of to a pharmacy which all parents know is easier. They have evening hours, they have weekend hours, there's no wait.

So let's take a look at a map. There are 30 states that prohibit pharmacists from giving a flu vaccine to children, either children of any age or children of a certain age. 30 states have prohibitions. So in August, President Trump actually took a step in the right direction. He told pharmacies around the country, hey, guess what? I'm going to let you vaccinate children ages 3 and up. Go ahead and give a flu vaccine to children ages 3 and up.

But we did an investigation, the CNN exclusive investigation, we contacted more than 175 pharmacies in the U.S., only a small number knew that they were allowed to do that and did it. So he did this declaration, but it doesn't seem to have gone very far -- Jim, Poppy.

SCIUTTO: That's the thing, if you have plans, you got to follow through on them, prepare people.

COHEN: Right.

SCIUTTO: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

COHEN: Thanks, guys.

SCIUTTO: John Harwood is at the White House with more on what is the latest White House outbreak, among the vice president's staff.

John, the vice president still, is the election moving ahead, defying his administration's own guidance on this. I mean, is there a medical argument you're hearing from the White House for why they're doing this or is it purely political?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's purely political. There's no medical argument for it. It's the same playbook they used when we had the previous outbreak with Hope Hicks and then the president on the same evening we learned that they had tested positive. Remember, the White House tried to cover that up, keep it quiet, the news broke. Same thing happened with this outbreak in the vice president's circle.

[09:05:04]

Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, tried to keep that quiet as well. And now even though the vice president's political adviser, his body man, his chief of staff have all come down with COVID, he's hitting the trail, he's going to Minnesota on Monday. That is partly a reflection of the desperation of the Trump campaign going to Minnesota, one of the Hillary Clinton states that Donald Trump is trying to pick off this year but they're down by eight points.

It's not a promising situation but it's also consistent with the philosophy of the administration, as acknowledged by Mark Meadows which is that they're not willing to use -- mobilize the full power of the federal government against the pandemic. They're not capable of doing it effectively even if they wanted to, and so the vice president is going ahead.

Joe Biden reacting to this yesterday, said the administration's strategy has been to wave the white flag and he accurately said that the president from the beginning has insisted this is going to go away, but it won't go away.

Now this is very politically problematic for the administration for two reasons, Jim. One is that it underscores the central failure of the administration on the top issue to voters, just days before the election. They've been trying to shift to the economy. This puts the focus right back if it ever left on the coronavirus pandemic.

The second is, Democrats have put a huge emphasis on banking early votes, vote by mail. We're seeing that in the pattern. The Republicans, the Trump campaign has planned on a big in-person vote on the day of the election. If the pandemic is peaking right as we get to election day, that leaves them, guys, with a tremendous downside risk in terms of getting their voters out on election day.

HARLOW: Yes. Well, that's a great point on the political side of it, John. I mean, I wonder what you think about Senate Republicans like John Thune, the number two, or Mike Rounds or Mike Braun, all responding to CNN's comments yesterday saying the opposite of what Meadows said. I mean, Mike Braun said, no, you got to throw everything at it including the kitchen sink.

HARWOOD: Well, they need to say that because that's what sensible people would say when the American public is as alarmed as it is, but the truth is that the Republican Party by and large understands the president's political position. They understand that he is unlikely to win re-election. It's an uphill fight, not impossible but it's difficult, but their principal priority right now is, A, saving the U.S. Senate seats and B, getting Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to the Supreme Court, as a last major accomplishment of the Trump administration, and that's going to happen tonight.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: John Harwood at the White House, thanks for the reporting this morning, John. Good to see you.

Let's talk with the medical side of this, our medical analyst, Dr. Seema Yasmin is here. She's also a former disease detective at the CDC.

Good morning, Doctor. Good to have you.

DR. SEEMA YASMIN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

HARLOW: If we could begin with the comparison between the United States. I mean, you know, Mark Meadows says it's like the flu, so you can't get rid of it. But I think you just have to look at South Korea, for example, as evidence that, you know, you can control it.

YASMIN: Absolutely, Poppy. We have the worst epidemic in the world, and sadly, the U.S. has the highest COVID death rate of any developed nation on the planet. There was even this really damning study that came out of Columbia University tied toward 130,000 to 210,000 avoidable COVID deaths in the U.S., and counting. It's all in the title, and they compare what's happened in the U.S. with other countries like France, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and show that if we'd been even a bit on track with those countries, then about 100,000 or 200,000 Americans who have died from COVID might still be alive today.

So this response has been an absolute failure and it really shows when you compare the numbers in the U.S. with other developed nations.

SCIUTTO: OK, let's talk about how potentially to change this. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, he's the former commissioner of the FDA, he wrote in the "Wall Street Journal" this weekend saying it may be time now for a national -- temporary national mask mandate, and I wonder, given the effectiveness of masks, is that a step that you would recommend? YASMIN: Jim, I think it would be so useful to have a mandate like that

because sure, not everyone is going to follow it. I get that, but at least it sends that clear signal about what is the right thing to do. Right now we have top officials exposed to people with the virus, not doing their quarantine, as they should be, still campaigning, not wearing a mask.

I've talked to people who are really confused by that. They say to me, well, you and the other experts say one thing but then the president and the vice president do something else. So a mandate like that, and I'm saying hands up, not everyone will follow it but at least it gets rid of some of that mixed messaging about what are the best ways to protect yourself and others.

HARLOW: Dr. Yasmin, listen to this from the president on testing and the number of cases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do you know why we have cases so much? Because that's all we do is test.

[09:10:02]

If we cut our testing down in half, they'd say -- well, they wouldn't say that, but cases would go down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: No. I mean we looked at the CDC data this morning, and testing is up, yes, it's up 16 percent in the last month, but cases are up 55 percent, and Jake pushed Mark Meadows on that yesterday morning. I don't -- I mean, those are numbers you cannot dispute, right?

YASMIN: Right, Poppy. This is such a blatant lie. The U.S. does not have more cases because we do more testing, and honestly, we're in October now. I am so tired of having to debunk this over and over, but the president keeps repeating this lie, actually if you look at our testing in the U.S., it's terrible. It's such a low rate compared to other countries. Some of the states especially in the northeast did not testing out of the park, had really good rate, and then it was no coincidence that those were the same states high testing rates, lower test positivity rates, because testing really helps you get a handle on where are the cases, where are people sick.

So let's just put this to bed. I hope once and for all, the U.S. has really high testing positivity rates, really high case numbers because we are not responding to the pandemic. It's not because we're doing more testing. In fact, we're not doing enough testing still.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Folks got to just understand that, positivity rate, it's more people testing positive. You know, it's a shame to be here months into this pandemic, but that's where we are.

Dr. Seema Yasmin, so good to have you on. Thanks very much.

HARLOW: Well, up next, where the candidates are and are not going today, that signals a lot about the final stretch of this campaign.

SCIUTTO: And hospitals at capacity as the Midwest now faces a surge in virus cases. We're going to have a live report from there.

Plus, a consequential vote as the Senate expected to confirm Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, days to an election. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin will join us, why he is willing to vote no.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:00]

SCIUTTO: Just moments from now, the president will leave the White House for a last-minute campaign blitz of Pennsylvania. The president holding three rallies in that key battleground state. It is part of a final push that sees both Trump and Biden blanketing the swing states.

HARLOW: The president is focusing a lot on Pennsylvania, it's a state he carried by just over 44,000 votes in 2016. Let's go to our colleague Vanessa Yurkevich who has been talking to voters there, and then we'll get Arlette Saenz. Vanessa, your piece over the weekend was great, and I think where he picks up where the debate left off or -- you know, Biden -- even the Biden team thinks, you know, he fumbled on that question about energy and fracking. What does it mean for voters there?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, and that is what we're hearing from voters on the ground in western Pennsylvania, particularly where fracking is such a huge economic driver there, it's lifted home prices, median incomes, it's provided jobs.

And we traveled to Atlasburg, Pennsylvania, this very small town in western Pennsylvania, and spoke to two business owners who say that without the fracking industry, they wouldn't have their business and they wouldn't be able to provide jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL PARIS, SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER, ALEX E. PARIS CONTRACTING CO. INC.: President Trump has a more clear perspective on keeping fracking going with minimal regulations, where Biden in the past and through the campaign has kind of gone back and forth on what he wants to do.

SHARLO TKALCEVIC, OWNER, T'S LOCKER ROOM BAR & GRILLE: It's almost like a domino effect, and it could just be disastrous in my eyes if, you know, first the pandemic and then fracking is banned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Now that confusion from voters breeds fear about their livelihoods. Now, Biden has clarified that he doesn't want to ban fracking, he just wants to ban fracking on future projects on federal land. I should mention though that most of the fracking projects in western Pennsylvania is on private lands, but as you heard from that one business owner, they're dealing with two things.

They're dealing with the future of the fracking industry, and they're dealing with the pandemic. So, when voters hear any questions about what might happen to their livelihoods or their jobs, they tend to take the safer route, and that is why those voters said that they would be supporting President Trump moving forward. Jim and Poppy?

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much, Vanessa. Arlette, you've been covering the former Vice President Joe Biden, of course, he's visiting key swing states as well. What's the strategy this week? How out and about will he be? Where will his focus be?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, Joe Biden is off the campaign trail today, quite the contrast to the multiple rallies President Trump is holding with just eight days to go until the election.

Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris will appear on "The View" later this morning, and she will also be up on Capitol Hill to vote against the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Now, the Biden campaign has argued that they are campaigning aggressively, and most importantly in a safe manner. That has meant more limited appearances.

Socially-distanced events in the age of coronavirus as they are presenting that contrast to how the president campaigns. And last night, in an interview that aired on "60 Minutes", Joe Biden talked about the possibility that President Trump could still win this election despite Biden currently leading in national polls and in some battleground states. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2020: Sure. I'm one of those folks or competitors, it's not over until the bell rings, and I feel superstitious when I predict anything other than it's going to be a hard fight. We feel good about where we are, but you know, I don't underestimate how he plays.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: And Biden went on to talk about the president's efforts, saying that, accusing him essentially of trying to delegitimize the election and intimidate voters heading into election day. Now, while Biden is off the campaign trail today, we are starting to get a look at how the rest of his week is going to shape out.

[09:20:00]

Tomorrow, he is heading down to Georgia, a state that a Democratic presidential candidate has not won since 1992, and where polls have shown a competitive race between Biden and President Trump, the former vice president will be attending a drive-in rally in Atlanta, as well as delivering remarks in Warm Springs, Georgia.

His campaign saying that that's essentially going to act as a closing argument for this campaign. That town has a historical significance as it was the retreat of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Later in the week, Biden is heading to that all important battleground state of Florida, and President Obama is also making his mark in Florida tomorrow, campaigning in Orlando. Jim and Poppy?

HARLOW: Arlette, thank you so much for that reporting. Let's get over to our colleague Jeremy Diamond now. Good morning, Jeremy. So, today, the president's holding three rallies, is that right, and this one in Allentown?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he's going to be having three campaign events here in the state of Pennsylvania. This first event where we are here in Allentown, Pennsylvania, it's smaller than the typical rally that you would see, though, I will say there were, you know, hundreds of people lined up to get into this event already.

But this is the president's strategy. I mean, Pennsylvania is the state that I've been told the president will hit more than any other battleground states between now and election day, and particularly over these last two weeks.

It is a crucial state. The president won this state narrowly by about 44,000 votes in 2016, and he needs this state. It's almost going to be impossible for the president to win this election unless he wins this state of Pennsylvania.

And that is why you are seeing the president barnstorm the state in the way that he will be today. And the message that I think you'll hear from the president is going to be one focused on his trade policies, his manufacturing initiatives, and particularly of course on energy issues, specifically, the issue of fracking, which the president views as central to his hopes here in Pennsylvania.

You can expect that the president will be seizing on those comments by former Vice President Joe Biden during that last debate, when he talked about phasing out the subsidies where fossil fuel companies, for oil companies. And he's also of course, talked about no longer issuing permits for fracking on public lands. President Trump of course, characterizes those comments much more broadly than former Vice President Biden does.

But you can expect that to be a central message here in the state of Pennsylvania. Also, I think you can expect the president to talk about Amy Coney Barrett, who he expects to be confirmed today to be the next justice of the United States Supreme Court. Jim, Poppy?

SCIUTTO: Don't forget that, all happening eight days to the election. Jeremy Diamond, Vanessa Yurkevich, Arlette Saenz, thanks to all three of you. Join us on election night for coverage only CNN can deliver from the very first votes to the critical final count, understand what's happening in your state and across the country. "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA", our special coverage starts next Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

HARLOW: Coming up, as COVID cases are rising as we set records this weekend across the country, there are cities that are now trying to use curfews to help slow the virus. We'll tell you more ahead.

SCIUTTO: And we're moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. It could be a rocky week for investors, in addition to uncertainty about next week's presidential election, investors are watching for any hints on when a coronavirus vaccine could reach the market, plus, some of America's biggest companies, tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Google's parent company, Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook, they're all going to report quarterly earnings this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. This may sound familiar, hope for a stimulus deal any time soon fading as the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have big differences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MEADOWS, CHIEF OF STAFF, WHITE HOUSE: We've continued to make offer after offer after offer, and Nancy continues to move the goal post.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): They keep moving the goal post. They -- every time they say we move the goal post, that means they're projecting what they did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Lots of goal posts moving. This as CNN learns that Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has privately told the White House not to make a deal because it won't have Senate GOP support to pass. That's clear there's division within the Republican Party as well. The Senate now expected to go out of session right after confirming Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. With me now, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Senator, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): Thanks for having me, Jim. Always good to be with you.

SCIUTTO: Let's talk stimulus just very briefly --

MANCHIN: Sure --

SCIUTTO: I wonder in your view, you're someone who's worked effectively with both parties. Have both parties blown it on stimulus?

MANCHIN: Well, it seems like that we're not able to come together and whatever the negotiating parties may consist of. Maybe sometimes you've got to shake it up a little bit, change it up, let's get some new people on the field and see if there'll have a chance --

SCIUTTO: We're eight days -- we're eight days --

MANCHIN: Yes -- SCIUTTO: To an election. I wonder, you've got your finger on the

pulse, you're a Democratic senator in a reliably red state. Who do you think pays more on election day for the failure to come to a deal, Democrats or Republicans?

MANCHIN: Well, I think everybody pays to a certain extent. But let me make sure we understand where we are coming from, Jim. Mitch McConnell put a deal together, the Hills deal, I believe he called it, back in August before we left early in July, 1.1 trillion, the house was at 3.2. They came down to 2.2, and they thought well, let's start negotiating, 1.1 --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

MANCHIN: We come from 3.2 to 2.2. Mitch sends -- Mitch McConnell sends everybody home.