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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is Interviewed about Stimulus Talks, Barrett Confirmation, Biden's Energy Plan and Election; U.S. Sets New 7-Day Record for New Virus Cases; 60 Million Have Voted Early; Voting in Wisconsin. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired October 26, 2020 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): Came down to 2.2 and they thought, well, we'll start negotiating, 1.1 --

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

MANCHIN: We come from 3.2 to 2.2. Mitch sends -- Mitch McConnell sends everybody home because he has control of the calendar and says, just go home for August and come back. We come back. He puts a new bill up for 500. So he goes backwards, almost double backwards.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MANCHIN: That's not really good negotiating in an earnest, sincere negotiation.

So what Mitch McConnell's running into, a lot of his members, a lot of my friends on that side, who aren't in favor of a lot of things. So they said, we're not going to go any further than that.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MANCHIN: He wanted to show that he had Republican support for something so small. Well, that's not going do it. Wall Street has said it's not going to do it. Everyone (INAUDIBLE) economists.

SCIUTTO: OK.

MANCHIN: So we need to do something and do it right. And if it can happen between now and election, let's do it.

SCIUTTO: We'll see. You said you need new players on the field? Are you saying there needs to be new leadership, including on the Democratic side?

MANCHIN: No, no, I'm saying whoever -- whoever Nancy and whoever Schumer and them have as their -- as their team that's negotiating, maybe I'll look out -- sometimes it's personality conflicts. I've been in meetings before. No matter how reasonable people were, there was a personality conflict and one wasn't going to give the other. Sometimes you've got to shake it up.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MANCHIN: So they should look within their inner circle and say, OK, let's put some new people involved and see if we can make something happen.

SCIUTTO: OK, the Senate will confirm, by all indications, Senator -- nominee, rather, Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

MANCHIN: There are cases related to this election, eight days away, that may work their way to the Supreme Court between now and Election Day. Do you believe Barrett should recuse herself from any election- related decisions?

MANCHIN: Well, I absolutely do, but that's not going to happen, Jim. Here's the thing that we're talking, we don't have a judicial crisis. We have a pandemic health crisis. We're on the brink of an economic crisis.

What should we have been working with and dedicating all of our time, should have been the economy and the health. And that's what we didn't do because immediately, as soon as that vacancy came up, boom, here we go. I want to make sure that I reiterate to you that this never happened within the history of our country, 240 years.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MANCHIN: If a vacancy came open July to election day, never happened. Abraham Lincoln didn't do it. John Quincy Adams didn't do it. It didn't happen. So here we are.

The only thing I've said -- I've got confidence and faith in the eight, you know, the eight jurists that we have right now on the Supreme Court. Now unless they're just concerned that they have to get this in case this election falls into the hands of the court, they want to make sure that they have a slam dunk, that's the only thing I can figure out because really we could have waited until after the election very easily and not divided our country further.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes.

MANCHIN: Jim, we're just pushing us further and further apart.

SCIUTTO: We just learned that Senator -- that Vice President, rather, Mike Pence has tested negative for COVID. Does that allay your concerns about him presiding over the Senate for this confirmation?

MANCHIN: Well, Jim, you know, the president -- the vice president does not travel by himself. So there's going to be a cadre of people traveling with him. They always do, no matter where he goes. Five of his staff members have proven to be positive -- tested positive. Those five members I'm sure were interacting with other members of the staff. We just don't know where this goes.

Now, to expose all of the police that we have, protection, all of the staff of both the House -- I mean of the Senate Republicans and Senate Democrat staff, and it's not needed, it's ceremonial today. Sometimes the vice president is needed for a breaking a tie, a 50/50 tie. That's not the case today. So I would ask, with all due respect, Mr. Vice President, please consider all the people that could be exposed, that doesn't have to be exposed today. Please, restrain from coming.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you about energy, because you're aware the vice president's comments, former vice president, during the last debate. He's now walked back those comments on transitioning away from the oil industry, specifying he's talking about fracking permits for federal lands, et cetera.

MANCHIN: Sure.

SCIUTTO: But I wonder, have his sometimes conflicting statements on this lost him voters? I mean, you know, fracking, energy, is a big issue in your own state.

MANCHIN: Well, the statement the vice president made was very confusing and I'm sure it was a mistake he made because he came back and he tried to correct it.

I've seen the Biden plan. We've talked to the people. They know where I come from. I'm all for innovation. And, Jim, what I mean by that, technology. We're transitioning. As we transition, whether it will be the fuel of the future, we don't know whether it will be hydrogen, fusion, whatever it may be, wind, solar, all the renewables we're for, but we also have to have dependable, reliable, affordable energy. And that means you need baseload, something that runs 24/7 that's affordable and dependable. And you have coal and you have natural gas and you have oil and all of those.

Can we use them cleaner as we transition through another energy? Absolutely. Should we be doing it by investing? We have an energy bill that we're hoping that Mitch McConnell will take up that Lisa Murkowski and I have worked on.

There's a lot of great things that we can do but you need to innovate. You can't just eliminate and say, OK, we're not going to use coal anymore, we're not going to use basically gas or any oil. That's not going to happen. And the rest of the world, it's called global climate, not American climate, not North American climate.

[09:35:00]

So we need to move the whole world further, faster to a cleaner -- a cleaner environment. And we can do that through innovation. We're on the brink of doing that and that's what he really meant and what he's working with us with.

SCIUTTO: You've said again, as we're eight days out from the election, to "Politico," you said, "I think President Trump has worn everybody out. It would be a true relief to my friends on the Republican side ether (ph)." If that's the case, if you're hearing that privately, why aren't more of them speaking out in public? MANCHIN: Well, I understand. He has over 80 million followers on

Twitter, OK. And to have that unleashed on anybody, I understand that. I don't begrudge my -- or fault them at all. I understand, they're trying to survive.

SCIUTTO: It's not exactly courage, though, is it?

MANCHIN: Well, I -- if they want -- if they have a lot of good public service left in them and they want to come to the middle and work with me and others in the middle, that we can move our country forward, then survive, OK? I understand that. But sooner or later someone's got to speak out.

I'm worn out. I have tried harder than anybody, especially on the Democrat side, to work with the president and his staff. And I still want to do good things and I'll work with them when I think something's right. But I'm speaking out because I believe that we're worn out, Mr. President. We can't take it anymore. There can't be this much confusion and disruption.

My life is complicated enough, as every other American's life. Don't throw more on us. And that's what he's doing. I think it's gotten to the point. And when he basically, in my state, having the veterans that we have and saying they're suckers and losers, that tore through me like a knife. Unbelievable.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Well, Senator Joe Manchin, you're always welcome on this broadcast. Thanks very much.

MANCHIN: Well, Jim, it's always good to be with you. And thank you for having me. Tell Poppy we said hi.

SCIUTTO: I will indeed.

There's Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Senator. Thanks for the time.

MANCHIN: Hi, Poppy.

HARLOW: This weekend a dozen states set records for coronavirus hospitalizations. Now one Texas county is trying to slow the spread by setting a curfew for the next two weeks. We'll tell you where, next.

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[09:41:18]

SCIUTTO: Well, this is the sad news, the sad facts. Coronavirus infections in the U.S. are now at record-breaking levels. The highest we've seen with new cases up 23 percent from the previous week. Just this weekend, 12 states saw a record number of hospitalizations. That, of course, key. That means people getting seriously sick. HARLOW: El Paso County, Texas, is under curfew right now, trying to

slow the spread there. The virus surge has hospitals and ICUs pretty much at full capacity.

Let's go to Adrienne Broaddus, our correspondent, who joins us there this morning.

On top of that, Adrienne, I know you're in Chicago. They're seeing a huge uptick there. But in Texas, they're having federal disaster teams head that way?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy and Jim, more resources are on the way. Governor Abbot, Texas's governor, says he needs help. He wants and is requesting a medical emergency hospital for non-COVID patients. He wants members of the Army to help with that medical center. And this as cases there spike.

You talked about El Paso. Well, they have this broad curfew in place to help address the problem.

And there's a struggle here in the Midwest to contain the virus as well. Wisconsin, if you look at our map, it's the darkest state on the map. A high number of cases there.

Neighboring Wisconsin, Minnesota. Minnesota seeing the highest number of cases, more cases than what that state saw in the spring and summer. This as Vice President Pence travels to Minnesota to campaign today.

And here in Illinois, a record number of cases over the weekend.

Take a listen as the state's top doctor delivered those COVID updates and became emotional.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. NGOZI EZIKE, DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We are reporting 3874 new cases for a total 364,033 confirmed cases since the start of this pandemic.

Excuse me, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: Illinois saw its highest number of cases on Saturday, 6,000 new cases, 4,000 yesterday. And as you saw in that video, the tears fell faster than she could wipe them away. This is hurting everyone, even the doctors who have to deliver us those updates.

Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes, listen, these are real people.

Adrienne Broaddus, thanks very much.

Tomorrow on the show we're going to speak to the Illinois Department of Public Health Director, Dr. Ngozi Ezike to find out how they're going to handle all this.

HARLOW: Well, nearly 60 million Americans, you guys, have already voted and cast your ballots in the 2020 election. Time is winding down, though, to vote early across the country. We'll give you a live report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:49:01]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

So we're only eight days from the election and we are seeing record setting early votes. Nearly 60 million of them cast so far nationwide. The number is going up by the second.

Here in New York City alone, on Sunday, more than 100,000 people cast their ballots. In Pennsylvania, Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block an extension on counting mail-in ballots for up to three days after the election.

Let's go to Kristen Holmes. She joins us now.

Good morning, Kristen. I mean I know we talked about this a bit next week, but it is so significant how these court rulings, ever since the Shelby v. Holder decision, really are changing how, when people can vote.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And any kind of decision that's made by the Supreme Court this close to the election could impact a lot of voters.

The one thing we continue to talk about is these incredible numbers that we are seeing across the country and how they're really not affected by any of these court cases. And we really want to point out that this is democracy in action. Look at the number you're talking about, nearly 60 million people.

[09:50:02]

This has surpassed the entire number of early ballots cast in 2016 and we still have eight days left for people to vote.

So I want to talk a little bit about who exactly is out there, who is casting their ballot.

We start with demographics. One is, we're seeing a big spike in young voters. That is something that both campaigns try to get every single cycle, and this cycle, it's actually paying off in the sense that they're going out and casting their ballot. The other critical voting bloc that we're seeing a lot of, women. Women are casting their ballot this cycle.

Now, I want to talk about how it's broken down by party. So let's start in Florida here. You can see, this is a state where Democrats are outpacing Republicans 43 to 36 percent. But, keep this in mind, we were expecting this and Republicans are actually closing the gap when there is more in person, early voting.

Same thing we are seeing in North Carolina. It is now 40 percent Democrats, 30 percent Republicans.

I want to point out a very staggering number, though. This is in Pennsylvania. Take a look at this one. This is 70 percent of ballots cast have been Democrats. Republicans have been 20 percent now, that might give you some insight into why President Trump is spending the day in Pennsylvania. He needs his constituents, his voters to show up on Election Day, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, he does. Thank you, Kristen. Appreciate the reporting, as always.

If you want to find out where you can vote early, your polling stations, ballot boxes, all this information you need for every single state, visit cnn.com/vote.

SCIUTTO: All right, to Wisconsin now where more than 1.3 million votes have already been cast in this hotly contested battleground state. A story we're hearing really across the country now. Lots of early voting.

Joining me now, attorney general for the great state of Wisconsin, Josh Kaul.

Josh, thanks so much for joining me this morning.

JOSH KAUL, WISCONSIN ATTORNEY GENERAL: Hi, Jim.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you about voter fraud. You told a Wisconsin newspaper recently that the chances for voter fraud are extremely low and yet we hear the president talking about it every day. But more substantively, we see Republicans in your state, and many states, pushing for ways to restrict the voter, whether it be voter ID laws, limiting the number of days that mail-in votes can be counted, et cetera.

Why do you believe the president and Republicans nationally are so focused on this issue? What do you read into that?

KAUL: Well, first, we know that voter fraud is extraordinarily rare. And in Wisconsin, our system has repeatedly been tested. We often have close elections in state. And in 2016, we had a statewide recount. And what those tests of our election system have shown over and over again is that the system is secure.

So when people make claims about fraud, what they are doing is providing false information about the state of our elections, trying to scare voters. I encourage all people to ignore that and to be aware that we have a safe, secure, and reliable voting system in Wisconsin.

SCIUTTO: You know, there's a lot of talk, and understandable because it's in the intelligence assessments, about disinformation coming from outside the country among the countries doing so, Russia and Iran. But the fact is, as you note, there's a lot of disinformation from inside the country. I wonder, for someone in your position as secretary of state, who presides over, in many ways, the election, where's the bigger threat for disinformation. Is it foreign or domestic?

KAUL: Well, you know, as attorney general, one of my jobs is make sure that we are protecting our elections -- protecting our integrity from -- from foreign threats and we have an state-wide intelligence center that works with federal agencies and local law enforcement to detect attempts for foreign interference.

You know, there is this debate about political issues within the country, and that's healthy. And what's important for us to do is to be clear about what the facts are. And when it comes to voter fraud, the fact is that it is extraordinarily rare and that people can feel confident that their votes will be counted and that the process will have integrity.

SCIUTTO: Have you seen or experienced any foreign hacking, access to, attempts to access actual voting systems this cycle that you're concerned about?

KAUL: I'm not aware of any of those efforts in the state of Wisconsin. You know, I -- we saw the reporting recently about the attempted Iranian interference in Florida. But that is something that we are prepared to address if it comes up. And if it does, we will make information publicly available as quickly as possible.

SCIUTTO: Understood.

OK, I want to talk about voter intimidation, because you have a number of groups, and the president, from his bully pulpit, asking for his supporters to come out and be poll watchers. Of course the concern is about more than watching the polls, right, trying to influence voters, intimidate.

Are you worried about that potential, and what are you doing to make voters feel safe and secure?

KAUL: Well, I'm very confident that we are going to have a free and fair election where everybody who wants to cast a ballot will be able to do so safely. But we're also preparing in case there is any attempt to intimidate voters at the polls.

[09:55:02]

So we've made clear to people in Wisconsin that voter intimidation is a felony and if anybody commits that crime they should expect to be investigated and potentially to spend time behind bars. And we are also working with other agencies in the state to make sure that if there is any incident that arises, that we can respond quickly.

But what's important for people to know is that the process has gone smoothly so far. There haven't been attempts to intimidate voters during early voting. And I don't expect that we will see any sort of coordinated effort along those lines on Election Day either.

SCIUTTO: Good to hear. Well, we wish you luck. You've got a big day coming up. Attorney General Josh Kaul, thank you for much.

KAUL: Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: All right, about three quarters of the country right now, three quarters, are seeing their COVID cases go up. We are now at levels that have not been seen in this entire pandemic. A live update, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: A very good Monday morning to you. We've got a little bit of news this week and next. I'm Jim Sciutto.

HARLOW: And I'm Poppy Harlow. We're so glad you're with us this morning.

It is eight days until the election and the nation is gripped by record-setting coronavirus surges across the country that health experts have been warning about, really ringing the alarm bells about for months.

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