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U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Extension of Wisconsin Mail-in Ballot Deadline; Trump Makes Push for Second Term as Pandemic Grips Nation; Joe Biden Stumps in Georgia as Trump Hits Three Key Midwest States; Fall Surge Adds Nearly Half a Million COVID Cases to U.S. Total in a Week; Illinois Health Official Shaken By Recent Surge in COVID-19 Cases; Protests Erupt in Philadelphia After Police Fatally Shoot a Black Man. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 27, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:08]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Very good Tuesday morning to you. Quite a week ahead. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And as you noted, Jim, it's a week until the election. I can't believe it's so close. We're glad you're here. I'm Poppy Harlow. And it is an election fast approaching, it is a pandemic growing fast one week from election day, and the candidates launching their final campaign strategies.

Today, the president is targeting the Midwest and First Lady Melania Trump will hit the trail for the first time in the critical state of Pennsylvania, and Joe Biden is making a play for red states. He is in Georgia. Former president Barack Obama is making the case for his former VP in Florida.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Amazing to think, seven days to go. But sadly, and these are just the facts. The pandemic is working -- worsening, rather, and it's hanging over all of this, despite the president's best efforts to downplay it. We cannot, as a country, escape the simple math here. The facts are nearly 500,000 new cases were reported in just the past week.

The nation is now averaging more than 70,000 new cases per day, 37 states -- look at that map there, how many are red and orange -- seeing a surge. And in the month of October, more than half of all states have reported their highest, that is record single-day new infections so far in this pandemic.

Let's begin with news, however, from the Supreme Court because there is big news. Ariane de Vogue is here.

Ariane, the high court has decided a major decision with significant ramifications for this election, seven days away. Tell us what it is and what it means.

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, just before Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in last night, the Supreme Court issued an order and it rejected the Democrats' request to extend ballot deadlines in Wisconsin. Wisconsin of course being that battleground state. The court divided 5-3 along ideological lines. And the conservatives basically say the federal court here was wrong to step in and change the state rules.

They said that they shouldn't have done so and that the state rule that had the deadline on election day should stand. But Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the liberals, she wrote a really biting dissent and she said, look, the reason the federal court stepped in was because of COVID and she listed all the numbers and the statistics. And she said that she worried that voters now are going to be disenfranchised.

One thing to keep in mind is remember last week, we saw that Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberals in a very similar case out of Pennsylvania. And there he allowed the ballot extension. Well, last night he explained the difference. He said, the Wisconsin case had to do with a federal court stepping in and he thought that that was improper for the federal court to strike down the state rules.

But the Pennsylvania case had to do with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision. And he said there that was OK because it was the state's highest court in the land that was interpreting its own law. So he made that distinction last night, Poppy.

HARLOW: I think that the words from Justice Kavanaugh are really telling, Ariane, and I wonder if you can explain the significance of them particularly this line, quote, "and those states also want to be able to definitively announce the results of the election on election night, or as soon as possible thereafter."

DE VOGUE: Right. So a lot of justices wrote separately last night in this order, and Kavanaugh did so. And what was interesting, as you pointed out there, is he seems to buy into the argument that if there are late ballots it could cause chaos. And then he said of course some of the states like to count on election night, but we know that the states don't do all the counting on election night.

And what's interesting about what he said, particularly he said those states want to avoid the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election. What's interesting about that, Poppy and Jim, is that sounds very similar to some arguments that Trump and the Republicans have been making going into this election.

SCIUTTO: Ariane, but legally, if they're cast validly, they're not flipping the results of the election because the election results aren't known yet. What's the legal explanation for that?

DE VOGUE: Right. You're echoing what a lot of progressives are saying this morning waking up and reading Kavanaugh's opinion. And keep that in mind, lots of states do things different ways. Wisconsin has this election day deadline but other states have allowed an extension. So what he was saying there really bothered and concerned progressives for the fact that he was suggesting that anything that was sent in or counted after election day would be somehow would cause chaos. That's what's causing controversy this morning.

[09:05:02]

HARLOW: Yes. Major controversy. Ariane, thanks for explaining it to all of us this morning.

Let's turn back to the campaign trail now, following both campaigns. Let's begin with our White House correspondent John Harwood.

Good morning, John. The family of the president out on the trial today, notably the first lady out campaigning, I think, for the first time by herself today.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The Trump campaign, including the first lady, as well as Vice President Pence and the president, are playing scramble defense today. Yesterday, the president was in Pennsylvania, must win state, probably the tipping point state in the election. Melania Trump is going to be there today, while her husband goes to the other states in the Midwest.

The president needs one of these -- Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. He's going to be in Michigan first, then in Wisconsin today. Then he's even going to go to Nebraska, to Omaha, where there's a congressional district that is awarded individually separate from the statewide vote. The president won it four years ago. He's behind there. In all these places he's traveling, he's behind.

Vice President Pence is going to Carolinas. North Carolina is another place where they're playing defense, trying to hold on to it. Biden has a very narrow lead. South Carolina probably more about the Senate race where Lindsey Graham is facing a tough challenge from Jaime Harrison.

But the time is getting short. The president is still behind nationally. If you look at the averages, by nine points. He's got to find some place to take back those electoral votes that he won in 2016 from Joe Biden.

SCIUTTO: All right. John Harwood, thanks very much.

Let's go now to CNN political correspondent MJ Lee, more on Biden's strategy this week.

MJ, Georgia on the list?

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, it tells you so much that Joe Biden is kicking off the final full week of campaigning in the state of Georgia. This is a state that a Democratic presidential candidate has not won since the 1990s. This was of course Bill Clinton in 1992. And recent polls have shown a competitive race in that state and that Biden actually does have a shot of winning that state.

And you look at the map and you see how fanned out the Biden campaign is today. You mentioned Kamala Harris is campaigning in Nevada. Former president Barack Obama, who is one of Joe Biden's highest profile surrogates, campaigning back in Florida. And when you look at the rest of the week that is in store for Biden you kind of get a good sense of the frame of mind for the Biden campaign right now.

Biden himself is returning to Florida on Thursday and then on Friday, this is very interesting. He is going to the states of Iowa and Wisconsin, and what he told reporters yesterday is that he feels good about winning the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. These are three states, remember, guys, that made all the difference in the Midwest for President Trump, so Biden saying he feels good about those states and that as far as states like Iowa and Georgia are concerned, he feels like he has a fighting chance.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: It's so interesting. We're glad you're on the trail. The Georgia move fascinates me, let's talk more about this. MJ Lee, thanks very much.

Anita Kumar is here, White House correspondent and associate editor for Politico, and Margaret Talev, politics and White House editor for Axios.

Good morning, ladies. Margaret, Biden is in Georgia making a closing case in a state that has not gone blue since '92. "The Washington Post" calls it a gamble. Is it?

MARGARET TALEV, POLITICS AND WHITE HOUSE EDITOR, AXIOS: Well, there's not very much downside for Biden in doing this and the payoff could be really big. I mean, look at what's been happening in Georgia. You know, President Trump won Georgia in 2016, but by a considerably smaller margin, for example, than George H.W. Bush. And the state is just changing, the demographics are absolutely changing, and we're having really big early turnout numbers.

There are two Senate races, two because of the special election on the ballot. And so from Biden's perspective, it matters not just for the electoral map, 16 electoral votes, is really important obviously. But to try to get those numbers up in the Senate, if Democrats are able to take control of the Senate and he were to win the presidency, it gives him a lot more maneuvering room obviously.

And if they were to add one or potentially even two more it would make a really big difference. And it's also meant to send a national signal about turnout to voters of color in several other key states.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Anita, forgive me for being skeptical here, because I remember way back in 2016 in the final couple of weeks of the race we did see the Clinton campaign talking about states like Texas. You know, they felt really strong and therefore did not focus on what ended up being the key swing states which they lost of course in the rust belt. I just wonder if you see any cautionary tale there from recent political history?

ANITA KUMAR, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND ASSOCIATE EDITOR, POLITICO: Yes. Well, Democrats will tell you that 2020 is very different than 2016. But you make a great point because there are Democrats that are worried that Biden and Kamala Harris aren't spending enough time in those three critical states that you just referenced, you know, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

[09:10:08]

Now they are there but they're expanding the map as we just said to six or more states, and that, you know, there are Democrats that are saying, no, you've got to be there in these states that this is exactly what Hillary Clinton didn't do. And remember, let's look back here in the last few months. Joe Biden hasn't been campaigning in person nearly as much as Hillary Clinton did because of coronavirus.

So everywhere he goes, every single place that Kamala Harris goes is very important. It tells a story because they are going to so, you know, few places so there is that cautionary tale. There is some concern about that. If you look at where President Trump has been going he's really focused hard on the states that he's won. He's focusing on those three states we just mentioned. And not very many other places.

He is looking at a couple other states. New Hampshire he just went to, Minnesota and Nevada, three states that he thinks he could flip but mostly he's focused on that map that he had in 2016.

HARLOW: Hey, Margaret, a family friend said to me last night, wow, the Amy Coney Barrett nomination like sailed through. Like, you know, I don't feel like there was a whole lot of, you know, hubbub around that. And it's like it's a huge deal that this happened -- it was eight days last night before the election. And I just wonder what you think that does in terms of motivating one side or the other more in this final push.

TALEV: Well, it's been one of the big questions. And President Trump was hoping that it would push coronavirus off to the side a little bit. That does not seem to have happened. We know coronavirus is still overwhelmingly the main issue driving voting. But, look. There are a couple of things to watch for and one is last-minute emergency election petitions. The court spared her having to go on the board last night with that one.

They had the majority without her, but there are going to be other petitions, we can imagine. And then number two is the Affordable Care Act because within a matter of days she won't be involved in what's going to be probably a crucial decision for the Affordable Care Act. So it may actually be that health care issue that is driving many on the Democratic side or at least many voters who are motivated by health care.

I think it's also certainly in terms of the way any election cases are dealt with by the Supreme Court very well impact the debate ahead with the next Senate is if Democrats take control about whether to try to change the makeup of the court.

SCIUTTO: Anita, I find it, you know, somewhat incredible that this needs to be asked, but Amy Coney Barrett, will she recuse herself from election-related decisions in this court, given she was confirmed a week to the election by a president who might sit to benefit from those decisions? Or is that just the reality we're going to deal with next week?

KUMAR: I think it's probably the reality. She has -- you know, people have been asking that same question and all indications are that she would go ahead and, you know, could be involved in some of those cases. Now, you know, anything that she didn't hear the oral arguments on she wouldn't be involved in but some of these cases as you just mentioned are these last-minute issues that have just been coming up so it does -- you know, we do seem to think that she is going to be involved in any of those cases that are coming up right now.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Folks, listen. Both parties have to think about the long-term effect on how people view this court, whether they see it as a partisan institution or, you know, a wise non -- apolitical one. Long-term effects here.

Anita Kumar and Margaret Talev, thanks to both of you.

Well, still to come this hour, the Illinois public health director was moved to tears over the spike in COVID-19 cases in her state. Understandably. She joins us next.

HARLOW: Also a 13-year-old girl who got coronavirus months ago is still living with the effects of it. She is one of the so-called long- haulers and she'll be here with her mother to join us.

Also, 30 police officers injured amid protests in Philadelphia overnight. This is after a black man was fatally shot by police. Officers say he had a knife but why wasn't less lethal force used? We're live.

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[09:15:00]

HARLOW: Well, the numbers are tragic. Nearly half a million new COVID cases across this country in just the past week, 37 states are reporting a surge. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is with me this morning. And I worry that when we say this every day, because the numbers are alarming every day. You know, people -- you know, the sort of the severity of it wears off, but this is huge and this is moving into colder days in the Fall and Winter, which would just make it worse, right?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's going to make it worse, Poppy, for a couple of reasons. One is that people tend to stay indoors more in the Winter, and so, that means you can't have those picnics anymore, those outside gatherings where the virus dissipates your indoors with people and that can make things worse. So, let's take a look at this map. As you said, it's going up in 37 states. I know we said -- the saying, you know, something very similar yesterday, but that's the case. It is still going up. Twelve states are in -- those are the red and orange states that

you're seeing. Twelve states are steady, they're not -- the numbers are not going anywhere, only one state is going in the right direction, and that's Washington. Again, not great to go into the Winter with these numbers. Let's take a look at another chart. If you look to the far right of this chart, you'll see the case numbers are going up and have hit an all-time high, highest numbers, daily numbers since the pandemic began. Poppy?

HARLOW: Elizabeth, it's hard to digest such bad news, but we need it. So, thank you for that. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, the pandemic has taken an enormous toll on healthcare providers across the country. If you know one, I'm sure you've heard it, including the Director of the Illinois Department of Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike. Have a listen.

[09:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NGOZI EZIKE, DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We are reporting 3,874 new cases, for a total of 36,433 confirmed cases since the start of this pandemic -- excuse me, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, joining me now is Dr. Ezike. Doctor, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

EZIKE: Good morning, and thank you so much for having me.

SCIUTTO: I've got to throw the questions out and just ask you big picture here. How did this country, one of the richest, most developed in the world, end up where we are today? Eight months into this pandemic, getting worse, not better. Science still denied. Basic steps like masks still challenged. You're seeing the effects of this every day in real human terms. How did we as a country get here?

EZIKE: I'm afraid there have been some mixed messages that have really confused the public. I think there's an intense desire to believe in things that are comforting, but not necessarily true, to say that this is not something you should be concerned about, that you don't have to adjust your lives or your behavior.

And just those two things alone, you know, not to mention not having, you know, regional or state, you know, national strategies have had people just scrambling from region-to-region, state-to-state, without, of course, acknowledging that, you know, people travel everywhere, and this virus is just -- by the way.

SCIUTTO: Credit to you for saying mixed messages when reality is some of them are just flat-out false, right? I mean, you still have the president questioning the other day based on fake science that masks make a difference. I just wonder, given that you have seen people suffer and die from this, what do you say to people, including the president and members of this administration who still say to this day the virus isn't so bad and there's nothing we can do about it?

EZIKE: No, I know that sometimes the truth is painful, but I think the data, the facts, the science bear out the truth, and I think all public health officials have been echoing the same chorus, and we all need to be on that same page that the masks work, that this virus, we know little about it, and so as we learn more, you know, we can say more. But for now, it is something that we have to pay attention to, that we need to protect ourselves from. The goal is not to get infected. We don't even know what the long-term effects are.

SCIUTTO: So, here you are yesterday at the podium. Well, you're doing what we see health officials have to do every day and announce the toll of this, and maybe we could show that on screen again. Moved to tears, as I imagine. My sister is a doctor, I mean, she's been moved to tears when she's told me some of these stories. Tell us what was going through your mind at this moment.

EZIKE: Yes, I felt like -- I didn't know that was coming. In retrospect, you know, trying to put it together because I haven't had that kind of a public display, and I've been doing this now since the beginning in January for Illinois.

But I'm surmising that it was a culmination of the pain and the fatigue as well as the frustration, and the anxiety that, you know, history was repeating ourselves in this state, and what we went through the first time was so traumatic to the entire state, and just thinking about repeating that and the frustration of people not quite getting it because the fact there are things we could do that could make history not repeat ourselves.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I mean, there are. You know, you have the experts talking now, Dr. Fauci among them about a long dark Winter here. I mean, figuratively, but also literally in a place like Chicago where it gets cold in the Winter, people are going to be inside, they're going to be indoors more. What is the way out? And how can people watching now, right, make a difference and maybe find some hope as we face these coming weeks and months?

EZIKE: What I've been trying to share is that, you know, when we have our record numbers of cases, just recently, we announced 6,000 cases in a single day. We know that those people that are infected, some of them are going to go on to be hospitalized and some are going to go on unfortunately, to succumb to this disease despite the valiant efforts of healthcare workers. But tomorrow, the infections have not been determined. And so we do have a role today to take precautions so that no one or at least, much fewer number of people get infected tomorrow. So --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

[09:25:00]

EZIKE: The day after, there are fewer hospitalizations and fewer deaths.

SCIUTTO: Yes, the future is not fixed. In a week's time, we're going to have either a re-elected President Donald Trump or a new president, president-elect in the former Vice President Joe Biden. If you had ten minutes with one or the other after election day, what advice would you give them to help steer the country forward through this?

EZIKE: I think it would start with the clear message from the top- down to explain what we know about this virus, what mitigation strategies we know work. I think just level-setting there is an important first step, and then building out a national testing strategy, a national mitigation strategy so that we're all on the same page instead of going through different waves at different periods.

We're bordered by six states in Illinois, we are directly impacted by what happens in our neighbors. Nobody lives in a vacuum. And so the sooner we have a unified approach, the sooner we can get this virus under control.

SCIUTTO: Well, from your lips to God's ears, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, thanks so much and I hope we can keep in touch, and we wish you the best of luck because we know you've got a tough job ahead.

EZIKE: Thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: Well, still ahead this hour, protests and unrest in Philadelphia. A familiar site after police officers there fatally shot a black man. What the city is now doing to reach out to the community.

HARLOW: We're also moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. You saw the volatile ride yesterday. Right now, looks like stocks are set to open higher there across the board. Huge sell-off though yesterday.

Investors are freaked out about no stimulus deal still after 12 weeks of bickering, a deal that would help millions of struggling Americans, especially as COVID cases continue to rise and some cities look to new restrictions. And we're also in the middle of earning season. We'll hear from tech giant Microsoft after the bell.

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