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Trump with Unstoppable Packed Rallies; Joe Biden Observed Health Protocols; Coronavirus Second Wave Strikes in Europe; South Africa's President Now in Self-Quarantine; Outrage Spark in Philadelphia; Airport Officials Made Invasive Body Checks on Women; Typhoon Molave Hit Vietnam; Typhoon Molave Makes Landfall in Vietnam; How Trump and Biden Differ on Foreign Policy; U.S. Tech Chiefs to Face Questions on Capitol Hill; Russia Imposes Mask Mandate Amid Soaring Cases and Deaths; 29 U.S. State Report Surge of New COVID-19 Cases; Canada's Trudeau Gets Emotional About COVID-19 Toll; L.A. Dodgers Win First Championship Since 1988; Turning Out the Youth Vote. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 28, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Kim Brunhuber live from CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom.
Ahead this hour, Donald Trump holds more packed maskless campaign rallies, just as the White House claims he has ended the COVID-19 pandemic despite all evidence of the contrary.
An angry response to the latest coronavirus restrictions in Europe put in place as the continent battles its second wave of infections.
And, another black man is shot and killed by police in the United States prompting a new round of protests on the streets of a major American city.
In the final stretch the election day in the U.S., President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden are taking drastically different approaches to the key issue, coronavirus. President Trump is lamenting COVID-19's news coverage and continues to claim the U.S. is turning a corner. Biden calls that removed from reality.
The reason the pandemic is the main election issue is because data shows t it's getting worse. More than half of the states have reported their highest single day rise in cases this month. Right now, an average of 800 Americans are dying per day.
Jim Acosta has more on how these facts are impacting the last week of the race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I've got to say, I am working my ass off here. This is --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is in a race against time and the coronavirus, staging multiple potential super spreader rallies on a daily basis even as he defends his COVID- 19 response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. COVID, COVID, COVID. On November 4th, you won't be hearing so much about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Democrat Joe Biden is accusing Mr. Trump of incompetence, delivering speeches in smaller, but safer socially distanced settings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president keeps telling us not to worry. He keeps telling us we are turning the corner, as his quote. He says, removed from reality and is offensive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Pressed by CNN on whether he simply blew it on the virus, the president said he welcomed the judgment of the voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Mr. President, shouldn't the voters judge you on COVID? And did you blow it?
TRUMP: Voters are judging me on a lot of things, and one of the things we've done a really good job on, is COVID. But now we are doing vaccines, we are doing therapeutics, and we have done a great job, and people are starting to see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Still the president is sounding angry that the election may hinge on his handling of the pandemic, tweeting all the media wants to talk about is COVID, COVID, COVID. Former President Barack Obama is mocking Mr. Trump's COVID coverage obsession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: What's his closing argument? That people are too focused on COVID. He said this at one of his rallies. COVID, COVID, COVID, he is complaining. He is jealous of COVID's media coverage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Mr. Trump is also furious at Fox News for airing Obama's speeches as he longed for that network to seize former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I only thought he was on Fox, and Fox puts him on all the time. And this would not have happened with Roger Ailes, I can tell you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: But the president has bigger election problems on his hands like the way he's turned off women voters, making offensive comments as he did once again in Michigan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Your husbands, they want to get back to work, right? They want to get back to work. We are getting your husbands back to work and everybody wants it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: After putting Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court, Mr. Trump appears to be seeking her assistance that ballots are being counted after election day. The president is echoing an argument in a case on absentee ballots in Wisconsin made by Justice Brett Kavanaugh who wrote, 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.
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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:04:57]
TRUMP: It would be very, very proper and very nice if a winner were declared on November 3rd instead of counting ballots for two weeks, which is totally inappropriate, and I don't believe that that's by our laws. I don't believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: But that's not true. The results don't always come in on election night. Just ask Mr. Trump who declared victory the morning after election day in 2016. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany who appeared on Fox by Trump campaign studio blurring her role as the government spokesperson maintains the president is cruising to victory, even as the lights went off during the interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STUART VARNEY, HOST, FOX NEWS: Do you feel you've got the momentum going here, with just a week to go? KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's no doubt
about, Stuart. We have a tailwind behind us. The lights just went off, they're back on, but we have a tailwind behind us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And the first lady was on the campaign trail earlier in day in Pennsylvania and considers the president's schedule for the day campaigning in Michigan, Wisconsin and even Nebraska, all states that Mr. Trump carried last time, gives you a sense of just how much trouble he is in seven days before the election.
Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
BRUNHUBER: Michael Genovese is a political analyst and the author of "How Trump Governs." He joins us from Los Angeles to talk about the race for president. And I'm going to start with COVID since that's what we were just seeing there. The message coming from the president and his party as we heard, Donald Trump has ended the COVID pandemic.
And you know, people are too focused on COVID anyway. So, you know, for a hard-core Trump supporter, that's obviously true. But, if as polls show, a majority of Americans are worried about COVID, how -- how does the math add up?
MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, for Donald Trump, it only ends up in the following way. He desperately needs you to believe that they have conquered COVID, that we are turning the corner, that the worst is over and that the best is yet to come. We are going to turn the economy around, vote for me.
The problem is that that clashes with facts on the ground that are noticeable, obvious and glaring all of us in the face. And so, you know, the most devoted of Trump, the base will of course say yes, yes, yes. But most people can see that every day the cases are increasing. Deaths are increasing. We're not turning the corner. We're running right smack dab into the wall.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And that's why I'm wondering, how does that, how does that work when you are trying to win reelection? You know, as we heard the president is trying to shore up his support and even in reliably red states, and Biden has his eye on a number of traditionally red states, like here in Georgia, for instance. Is that realistic? Or is Biden overconfident, maybe taking some blue or swing states for granted?
GENOVESE: He might be over confident. It reminds me a little bit of 2016 when Hillary Clinton rather than going to the blue wall states in the rust belt, instead tried to expand the vote, rather than protect the vote. And it backfired on her. It could backfire on Biden.
The difference is that 2016 it was closer at this time than it is now. So, Biden has a wider margin of error. But, you know, if he wins Georgia, it's going to be part of a landslide. Better to shore up the states you must win, for example. I would park myself in Pennsylvania for the next five days. BRUNHUBER: Yes, that sounds smart. But, you know, unlike President
Trump who is crisscrossing the country holding event after event, Biden's campaign is relatively low key, relatively little travel at least in comparison. Is he playing it too safe?
GENOVESE: Well, I think during a pandemic you've got to make some adjustments. You can't do the normal campaign that we do, got barnstorming, shaking hands, large crowds and greeting people. Donald Trump is trying to have the old traditional Donald Trump rally crowd. It has worked for him in the past.
The problem is, for Biden, it would be irresponsible to do so. He is not going to do that. And his message right now is almost as if he had already won. Unity. I want to bring the country together. We've got to get past this, we've got to bring ourselves together. So, Biden is running a different campaign. He is running a pandemic campaign. Trump is not.
BRUNHUBER: This week, Justice Amy Coney Barrett confirmed, sworn in. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says that nomination actually helped some vulnerable Republican incumbents. But others have suggested that, you know, doing this ahead of the actual election might have, you know, some Republicans are going, you know, job done. Which side do you fall on?
GENOVESE: You know, I think this is going to be an enthusiasm election, and it's going to be a turnout election. And so, whatever the Republicans can do to get their base riled up, it will help them.
The problem is, the same things that Trump is doing to rile up his base also riles up the Democrats. And so, what you are going to see is a high enthusiasm turn out, people's enthusiasm for Trump, but just as enthusiastic against him.
[03:10:03]
And so, I think that Donald Trump is the issue. There is really only one name on the ballot, it's Donald Trump.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We appreciate you coming in to talk to us, thank you so much. Michael Genovese in Los Angeles.
GENOVESE: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: The World Health Organization says a record number of coronavirus cases have been reported worldwide in the past seven days. That number, 2.8 million coming in the shortest exponential increase in cases since the start of the pandemic.
Europe is contributing nearly half of all of these new cases. The continent is being ravaged by the surge with Belgium and the Czech Republic being the worst affected this month. The outbreak is so bad in Belgium that some COVID positive healthcare workers are being asked to keep working as long as they aren't showing symptoms.
Italy reported a new record for a daily coronavirus cases on Tuesday as protesters and police clashed in Rome over restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the virus. And beginning today, both Russia and Portugal are making face masks mandatory in public spaces.
All right, let's head to Paris now where CNN's Melissa Bell is standing by with the latest. Before we talk about where you are in France, let's start with those extreme situations in the Czech Republic and Belgium.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kim, it is really Europe as a whole that is bearing the brunt of this second wave worst of all, in fact, the eight countries that are worst hit by that resurgence in COVID-19 cases are all in Europe. That gives you an idea of how bad it is.
And of course, on top of that list in terms of the rises over the course of the last month, Belgium and the Czech Republic. Although, figures do suggest that that rate of increase in those countries could be leveling off a little bit.
Meanwhile, elsewhere it continues to worsen. Italy, for instance, that country that was so badly hit by the first wave, we are seeing those protests now in several Italian cities, a reminder of some of the pushback really that's coming from populations that are frankly tired of these restrictions as they come into force for the second time.
Germany as well, seeing large rises. And what you have now, Kim, is a situation where we expect countries like Belgium, Germany and France all to announce fresh restrictions before the end of the week.
BRUNHUBER: All right. So, now, where you are, France, some experts there say the outbreak is out of control. How bad is it exactly? And what are they planning to do to get it back under control?
BELL: Well, a meeting was held yesterday, an emergency governmental meeting was held yesterday. Another one is held this morning where we're told that is where the tightness of these fresh restrictions are going to be cited. Just close to a second lockdown they are going to get.
The French president will speak tonight. A lot of speculations in the French press about just how close to that second lockdown he will come. For the time being, the French have tried curfews. The French have tried public -- public face coverings. None of that has managed to bring these numbers back under control.
And again, it is the number of new cases, more than 33,000 recorded here in France yesterday. But also, it is the people entering ICU in hotspots like here around Paris, Kim. There are now more than 72 percent of those ICU beds here in the greater Paris region that are taken up already by COVID-19 patients.
BRUNHUBER: Very disturbing, indeed. Thank you so much, Melissa Bell in Paris.
All right, for more on the pandemic in New York, let's bring in Sterghios Moschos. He's an associate professor at Northumbria University. Thank you so much for joining us here.
A dire situation, I mean, most experts said there would be a resurgence of the virus with the return of the cold weather. But did you expect it to be so bad so early?
STERGHIOS MOSCHOS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN CELLULAR & MOLECULAR SCIENCES, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: I frankly say that I lost a bet with a friend of mine in Oxford that I was anticipating this to get worse a lot sooner. And I'm very grateful of being proven at least wrong by a few weeks.
BRUNHUBER: Really? Why --
(CROSSTALK)
MOSCHOS: The answer to the question --
BRUNHUBER: Yes, go ahead?
MOSCHOS: Why was I not expecting that? I was expecting that because people are showing at least in the United Kingdom that they won't -- they've had enough and that they just wanted to get on with life.
I was seeing a lot of relaxation of the measures just in day-to-day activities. And I anticipated the virus because it was still very highly prevalent in the U.K. to flare up very fast.
It has flared up, actually. And if you just look at the curves of the various countries on, you know, one of the many data representation systems online, you will see that the United Kingdom has been looking at exponential growth for several weeks now if not months.
So, the problem has continued to arise. And unfortunately, the measures that have been brought into play just don't seem to have achieved anything, really and only a very, very minor, sort of, calming down of the transmission.
[03:15:00]
BRUNHUBER: Well, that's the thing. I mean, you touched on this, the measures needed and the resistance to them. I mean, we've seen as the cases increase, resistance increases as well. Something has to give here. The situation at some of these countries is going to have to get, you know, much, much worse, demonstrably worse as we saw, let's say in Italy in the spring they are willing to accept more stringent measures.
MOSCHOS: Look, somebody much wiser than me once said, is the economy stupid, right? What that means is that people need to be able to go about their normal daily lives and to feel secure in order to participate in society effectively. And it doesn't matter if it's COVID or if it's, you know, enrolment crashing leading to the loss of jobs.
When we have a crisis, we need to support people in order to be able to listen to the authorities and participate in that, you know, in that team effort to try and recover from whatever is that is striking us.
Now in this instance, we the medical (Inaudible) and medical scientists have, you know, gone about this, talking about it for the last six months saying, we need to contain transmission, we need to be actively stopping people from getting in contact with each other, et cetera, et cetera.
Now it's the place for the government to put into the play -- into play measures that will allow people who see their livelihoods lost supported through that process because if people are not supported, they will not comply. And we'll see what we're seeing in Italy spread worldwide. Nobody wants that.
BRUNHUBER: But then, you know, to allow that to happen we do have to, you know, stop transmission at least a little more than we are doing right now. You know, masks, obviously, are very important. Here in this country we have had some top experts like Dr. Fauci, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb say it's time to consider a national mask mandate.
And Russia, Portugal just enacted one. Is that the answer in countries like the U.S.? Maybe the U.K.?
MOSCHOS: The global requirement, the global recognized standard for preventing transmission in a closed space is 20 liters per person a second of air being removed from a given room. So, if you have three people, that's 60 liters.
Now most households, most businesses don't have that capacity to install that kind of extraction systems. As a result of that, we need to do something else. That is, to mask up. There are no two ways about it, let's get this done and stop is from getting worse and putting everybody's livelihood at risk.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Well said. Thank you very much, Sterghios Moschos. We appreciate you coming on and talking to us.
All right, we'll going to turn now to new developments out of South Africa. The country's president has just started a self-quarantine after a guest at a dinner he attended tested positive for COVID-19. Now officials say the president isn't showing any symptoms.
We are going to go now to CNN's Eleni Giokos who's live from Johannesburg. What can you tell us?
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, look. We have just heard news that President Cyril Ramaphosa is now currently in self- quarantine after he attended a fund-raiser on Sunday. And the presidency says that he was informed that one of the guests started showing symptoms on Sunday, went for a test on Monday and then they found out that this guest was COVID-19 positive.
We have also been told that the president and the people that attended this fund-raiser, 35 people, all adhere to strict protocols of mask wearing and social distancing. The only time the president took the mask off, they say, was when he was dining, as well as when he addressed the audience.
The military hospital and health services regularly screen the president. But they say screening not specifically and the president is always under scrutiny and they are checking him whether he go regardless of where he's going into events or whether he is being tested periodically within his capacity.
But importantly here, the timeline, we've got to look at it. When he found out that one of the guests were positive, the president had already attended two events on the day. That's Tuesday, one at the airports and another at the convention center. The president says that he will only be going for a COVID-19 test if he starts to develop symptoms.
Now interestingly earlier the week, the president warned of super spreader events and said South Africans shouldn't let their guard down particularly as we're getting into the summer season. You've got to keep in mind that South Africa had one of the strictest lockdowns globally. And we always see the president and a lot of government officials adhering to mask wearing.
What is going to be interesting to see now is the COVID-19 cases which have now been on the rise over the past seven days, we've seen an increase of 9 percent, but the numbers are really interesting here, Kim, as well.
[03:19:59]
In South Africa we've had a total of 717,000 positive cases. Death toll sitting at just over 19,000. But the recovery rate has been really strong.
We've also had a few government officials testing positive for COVID- 19 including the health minister as well as his wife. Now, the president currently in self-isolation not showing symptoms as yet, and of course, one that we'll be watching very closely.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Thank you so much for that update. Eleni Giokos in Johannesburg.
Still to come, looting, violence, and outrage in Philadelphia. Hundreds of protesters hit the streets for a second night after the deadly police shooting of a black man.
Plus, typhoon Molave has made landfall in central Vietnam. We'll have more on just how devastating the storm could be coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Protests have erupted for a second night in Philadelphia as outrage grows over the fatal police shooting of a black man. Hundreds of demonstrators demanded justice for 27-year-old Walter Wallace, Jr. The protests were mostly peaceful but police say crowds were seen looting local businesses. Officers say Monday's incident began with a call about a man with a
knife. Now cell phone video shows how the confrontation evolve -- unfolded. Warning now the following video is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch my word. You (muted) young man. This is crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move, move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm done. I'm done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The family says they told police Wallace had mental health issues. The district attorney said the video was concerning and raised serious questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KRASNER, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We are in a moment of criminal justice reform in the United States. We are in a moment when everyone wants the system to be better. They want there to be appropriate, fair, even-handed police accountability. How do we do it? The first thing we do is vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The district attorney's office and the police are investigating. Police said neither officer had a taser. And the police union says the department shouldn't be vilified. Both officers involved have been put on desk duty.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is speaking out against the invasive searches performed on a group of women earlier this month at the airport in Doha, Qatar.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is following the story from Hong Kong. It's really disturbing story. So what more can you tell us about what happened, as well as the reaction?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very disturbing story, it's been described as grossly inappropriate treatment. But Qatar has agreed that it will investigate these reports of invasive body checks of women at Hamad international airport in Doha.
[03:25:02]
The women they were subjected for these checks to find out whether or not they had recently given birth after an abandoned baby was found in a rubbish bin in the airport on October the 2nd.
Now we have learned that those subjected to these invasive body checks include women who were on 10 different flights including 13 Australians who were on board a Sydney bound flight. They were reportedly removed from the plane, detained, subjected to these exams in an ambulance on the tarmac.
Now CNN spoke to an eyewitness, a passenger who was on one of these planes. And he detailed how when these women returned from the tarmac, they were shell-shocked. And he said one woman was crying.
As you can imagine, there has been outrage in response to these reports all around the world, but especially in Australia. And earlier today, just a few hours ago we heard from the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison who condemned what happened and spoke out not only as a head of state, but as a father of daughters. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Refund is just unacceptable. That's been the official message and conveyed very clearly in the investigation that it is, because it is unacceptable. I mean, it was appalling. As a father of daughters, I could only shudder at the thought that any woman, Australian or otherwise, would be subjected to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Scott Morrison says he expects to see the result of the investigation by Qatari officials very soon. We have also received a statement from officials in Qatar. Let's bring it up for you.
In the statement it says this, quote, "his Excellence Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the State of Qatar has directed that a comprehensive, transparent investigation into the incident be conducted. The results of the investigation will be shared with our international partners. The State of Qatar remains committed to ensuring the safety, security, and comfort of all travelers transiting through the country." End quote.
Now, as for the baby, this is what we know. Airport authorities are still looking for the baby's mother. The baby is safe and sound in the care of medical and professional and support services. Back to you, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right, thank you so much. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.
Typhoon Molave is slamming Vietnam. The storm made landfall several hours ago. It brings with it winds of 165 kilometers per hour. With hundreds of thousands of homes already damaged from recent flooding, the Red Cross is warning nearly 1.2 million people are in severe danger as the storm makes landfall.
And in the Atlantic, the U.S. Gulf Coast is bracing for Zeta which has strengthen back to a category one hurricane. It slammed the Yucatan peninsula earlier Tuesday, bringing with it strong winds and heavy rain. And this is the 27th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
So, let's go to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri who has more on both of these. What can you tell us?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Kim, you know, we've seen of course the 27 storms, 4 of these storms have ended up making landfall across the State of Louisiana. The concern with Hurricane Zeta is that it's precisely where it's headed within the next say, 18 or so hours.
And we look at exactly what is forecast with the storm system, and we go to keep in mind when it comes to Hurricane Laura and also Hurricane Delta that made landfall across the State of Louisiana. Of the 11 storms that made landfall across the United States this season, those two storms still have left about 4,000 people into -- in shelters within the State of Louisiana at this hour.
So, thousands of people still displaced as a result of the storms this season. And you will notice hurricane warnings now prompted across southeastern Louisiana. And as far as northern Georgia tropical storm watch is prompted for strong tropical force winds.
Forecast move across northern Georgia including CNN center, eventually through the U.S. capital there in Washington, D.C. by Thursday night. And then the storm system eventually ends back up over the Atlantic Ocean. But really a quick moving storm and quite a pack, a quite a bit of punch at landfall here on Wednesday evening. In fact, widespread coverage of power outages going to be a probability here on the immediate coast and that becomes more scattered in nature as the system travels farther and farther inland.
But across portions of the South China Sea, the similar sort of a trend playing out as far as the activity of tropical systems in recent weeks, this is typhoon Molave, a category two, and a strong category two equivalent had landfall in the past several hours in Vietnam, much like the United States dealing with numerous storms especially in recent weeks.
In fact, Molave the 4th named storm to make landfall across this region in about three weeks' time in Vietnam. With all that said, over 15,000 agricultural land hectares have been damage, some 750,000 livestock have lost their lives. In fact, an additional 500,000 poultry also impacted by this as well.
And evacuations upwards of one and a half million. And Kim, we know homes have also been significantly damaged or destroyed, up to 300,000 properties.
[03:30:01]
So, this is an area that does not need additional storms. And unfortunately, they are experiencing it right now.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, no kidding. All right, we'll keep track of both of those systems. Thank you so much, Pedram.
Russia, North Korea, China, just a few of the global issues Joe Biden and Donald Trump disagreed on. So, we'll take a closer look at their very different views of the world coming up next. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back, you're watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm Kim Brunhuber. America first, that's been U.S. President Donald Trump's foreign policy mantra for four years. He's used it to shakeup alliances and retreat from global agreements. And now, Joe Biden's offering a different view of America's role in the world.
CNN's Alex Marquardt explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America first.
ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a rallying cry from President Trump that fires up his base and has transformed the way that the United States is seen and treated by the rest of the world.
JOE BIDEN (D) 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: America first has made America alone.
MARQUARDT: While Joe Biden is now largely hoping to pick up where President Obama left off. But the world has changed. It's left with the two candidates on opposite ends of most major issues. On North Korea, Trump has repeatedly boasted about his beautiful letters and friendship with Dictator Kim Jong-un.
TRUMP: We have a very good relationship. And there's no war.
MARQUARDT: But North Korea's nuclear program continues. Biden says, Trump gave Kim exactly what he wanted. An in-person meeting with the U.S. president.
BIDEN: What in God's name is that all about? He gave him legitimacy. MARQUARDT: Trump has improved the relationship with Israel with his
deeply strained in the Obama/Biden administration. He moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem which Obama wouldn't. And coordinated normalization agreements between Israel and three Arab countries.
It's the rivalry with China that will define much of U.S. foreign policy for decades to come. Trump started a fierce trade war. Repeatedly blasted China for the coronavirus. Painting himself as the one to confront them.
TRUMP: We had this horrible plague that came from China. And we're not going to forget that it came from China.
MARQUARDT: Biden has called Trump's approach erratic and promised more consistency with other allies. Alliances themselves are in the balance.
TRUMP: In NATO, I said you got to pay. We have got $130 billion a year or more from me. They didn't do it for 15 years. It went down. MARQUARDT: Trump really goes after NATO and its members and succeeded
in getting them to increase their defense spending. Biden believes alliances are a pillar of the global order.
[03:35:06]
BIDEN: We've find ourselves in a position where we're more isolated in the world than we've ever been.
MARQUARDT: The Paris climate accords is one of the international agreements that Biden wants to get back into. It was toss-up by Trump.
TRUMP: Look. You know about Paris? The Paris climate accord? One of the great disasters of all-time. Just call up France, how's Paris doing?
MARQUARDT: One Trump relationship that Biden is hoping to up end is with Vladimir Putin. The president claimed no one's been tougher on Russia, and sanctions have been severe. But the president has never publicly criticize Putin for putting bounties on the heads of U.S. troops.
TRUMP: If they were true, I would be very angry about it.
MARQUARDT: Or for attacking both the last and the current U.S. elections.
BIDEN: I made it clear that any country, no matter who it is, that interferes in American elections will pay a price. They will pay a price.
MARQUARDT: Another critical question is U.S. troops overseas in Afghanistan, the former vice president says that he wants to bring the vast majority home. But he doesn't say how many or by when. The White House says that President Trump wants to draw down to 2,500 troops by next spring.
In Iraq and Syria, both Biden and Trump, are much more vague. And both candidates, both say they want to end the so-called forever wars. But that is of course far easier said than done.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Top U.S. executives will head to a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Just days before the election. They are under fire from Republicans who accused them of bias against conservatives. And their legal protections could be at stake.
So, let's go to John Defterios in Abu Dhabi. John, so this hearing being called to revisit protections for online publishers, Republicans of course long felt the Silicon Valley is against them. Should we read anything in to the timing of the hearing a week before the election?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, I would say that the timing of the hearing, and also the accusations of a liberal buyers coming from Silicon Valley being question overall outside of the beltway in Washington, Kim. So, what's taking place here is that they're going to be called be for the Senate Commerce Committee which is controlled by the Republicans, of course, because they control the Senate.
It's the CEO of the parent company of Google, Alphabet, Sundar Pichai the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and the CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey. Now, the Senate Commerce Committee is suggesting that this content moderation that allows the publishers to continue with their practices has changed since the election in 2016.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas was saying that it's interference like we've never seen before in a political campaign. Not even mentioning Russia with the accusations we saw in 2016. The Republican Party even go so far as to file with the Federal Elections Commission saying that this a contribution from Silicon Valley to the Democratic Party. That is quite radical.
Also, I think we need to mention the growth of these companies since the last presidential election, Kim. If you look at the market cap of the groups, these three alone, $2 trillion. If you added Amazon and Apple, we are looking at $4 trillion. And we know in the last month the Trump administration has gone after, through the Department of Justice, after Google, because of its monopoly status. Above 80 percent market share and both online advertising and search.
But that is a different subject. This is talking about bias, editorial bias, by the online publishers of the companies that we're talking about here. Not about the size of the companies themselves. It's quite radical. Quite divisive before the polls here in about a week.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much, John Defterios in Abu Dhabi. Still to come, more than half the U.S. is reporting a surge in new coronavirus cases this month. So, we will bring you the latest from around the country, next.
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[03:40:00]
BRUNHUBER: Russia is facing tough new coronavirus restrictions. The country hit a new high and daily cases Tuesday and reported a record number of deaths within the 24-hour period.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russia is instituting a national mask mandate. And everybody is very vast country starting Wednesday, is going to have to wear a mask when they are in public spaces, on public transport, in parking lots and also inside of elevators.
The authorities here are also urging bars, clubs and restaurants to shut down in the hours between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. However regions can opt out of that if the virus situation there allows for. Now, all this of course come as Russia is dealing with a high number of new coronavirus infections. Basically every day.
And also Russia just recorded the single highest death toll in a span of 24 hours. Now one of those who is currently self-isolating, is actually the foreign minister of this country, Sergey Lavrov after he came into contact with someone who has the novel coronavirus. Lavrov's people right now are saying the foreign minister is doing just fine.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. reported more than 69,000 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday according to Johns Hopkins University. Some states are struggling to handle an increase in hospitalizations while others are still trying to convince people to wear a mask.
CNN's Brian Todd reports
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A stressed out hospital ward in El Paso, Texas and a city at the breaking point. Hospitalizations from coronavirus are at an all-time high in El Paso. Available beds are dwindling fast. And the mayor says they're scrambling to set up alternate hospital sites.
MAYOR DEE MARGO, EL PASO TEXAS: It's not good we're area backing non COVID patients if we need to.
TODD: Hospitalizations and new coronavirus cases are shooting up all across the country. The U.S. is averaging about 70,000 new cases a day over the past week. Adding nearly .5 million total cases in the last seven days, 37 states are now trending worse in reporting new coronavirus cases. Only one state, Washington, is trending better. And health experts are warning this national spike could be worse than any that America has seen before.
SEEMA YASMIN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, FORMER CDC DISEASE DETECTIVE: The most worrying thing right now is that it just looks like we have not learned from our mistakes. We have seen surges in the northeast in the spring. We've seen a summer surge in the south. We should not be grappling with surges right now across the Midwest and the northern plains.
TODD: The bleak reality hitting home with Admiral Brett Giroir of the White House coronavirus task force, who contradicts the president's claim that were saying higher number of cases only because there's more testing.
ADM. BRETT GIROIR, HHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY: Testing may be identifying some more cases. I think that's clearly true. But what we're seeing is a real increase in the numbers. TODD: In Illinois, one of the states trending up in cases, the
Governor says there's a quote, COVID storm on the rise. New Jersey is also moving in the wrong direction.
GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): Everywhere you look, it is screaming out that this is surging right now, folks. And we have all got to ban together and turn this numbers down. Particularly hospitalizations and losses of life.
TODD: The city of Newark is one of the hardest hit areas of the state. So, Newark is closing non-essential businesses by 8:00 p.m. And limiting service at restaurants, bars and salons. In other states are starting to roll back reopenings and instituting new restrictions. In Quarter Lane, Idaho, masks are now required for everyone in all indoor and outdoor public spaces with few exceptions. Some in the city are not happy about it.
(CHANTING CROWDS): No more masks. We will not comply.
TODD: North Dakota has the highest per capita rate of new cases in the entire country and no mask mandate. The state is drawing blistering criticism from Dr. Deborah Birx of the coronavirus task force who just traveled there. Birx said her team was in North Dakota's grocery stores, restaurants and hotels.
[03:45:15]
DEBORAH BIRX, CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: This is the least use of masks that we have seen in retail establishments. Of any place we have been. And we find that deeply unfortunate because you don't know who's infected.
TODD: And while there's more talk of whether a national mandate for Americans to wear masks can work, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other top experts say that even when a vaccine is widely available to Americans, likely by the middle of next year, mask-wearing will still be necessary across the country for much of next year and likely into 2022.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Living through the coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll on just about everybody. Even world leaders. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got personal and emotional about it as his country surpassed 10,000 deaths.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER, CANADA: We are in an unprecedented global pandemic. That really sucks. It's tough going through this second wave. It is frustrating. My 6-year-old asked me a few weeks ago, dad, is COVID-19 forever? I mean, he's in grade one. It's supposed to be his big year as a big boy. And not even singing in his classroom. This is really difficult. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Canadian health officials say they are concerned that hospitalizations have doubled in the last month alone. Experts say the October 12 Canadian thanksgiving holiday who has contributed to the surge in cases.
Still ahead, turning out the youth vote. Republicans and Democrats scramble to get young voters to the polls. But next, why that demographic could make all the difference in this election. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, some (ph) bad time to be in Los Angeles sports fan. Just a couple weeks after the Lakers won the NBA championship, the L.A. Dodgers have won their first world title in 32 years. They beat the Tampa Bay raise three to one in game six Tuesday night in front of a limited crowd at a stadium in Arlington, Texas. And it was a thrilling finish to an unusual baseball season. It was pushed back by the pandemic, most games were played without fans. And the season was shortened to 60 games instead of the usual 162.
Now, the Dodgers had to pull one of their star players for baseman, Justin Turner in the middle of the game. After he tested positive for coronavirus. The commissioner of major league baseball says he was taken out of the game as soon as they learned of his positive test. Turner wrote on Twitter, he quote, "he just experienced every emotion you can possibly imagine." He later returned to the field after the Dodgers won the championship to celebrate with his teammates.
All seems young Americans are energized and highly engaged in this election. More than 1 million voters aged 18 to 21 have cast their ballots early, according to one data company.
CNN's Dana Bash has more on what's driving these numbers.
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DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: University of Virginia sophomore Libby Klinger is up early on a Saturday ready to roll. Joining fellow campus Republicans to get out to vote.
[03:50:06]
LIBBY KLINGER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, UVA COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: There's a lot of enthusiasm among young conservatives to vote. Especially in this critical year. With everything that's been going on with the pandemic. We're out here canvassing today.
BASH: They're the diehard that still say everyone they know is voting.
KLINGER: People are really starting to recognize just all of the different chaos within the political climate right now. That voting is only real say that we can have. BASH: UVA Democrats are driving people to the polls. Hunter Hest (ph)
waited with Nade Konnick (ph) for over an hour to cast an early vote
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been doing a lot. Especially for first year students who like, don't know the voting process very well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if I know anyone, any of my personal friends, who haven't voted already.
BASH: On the lawn, these students say voting is trendy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People on social media, people will post a picture of their ballots. I mean (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's almost like a little peer pressure to vote?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BASH: Young voters are a crucial part of the electorate and are already making up a large share of early voting across 14 key states, compared to 2016. In Wisconsin, early voting among young people is up from where it was in 2016 and both parties are working it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've seen an increase in the number of people asking questions about how to get registered to vote. And trying to get registered to vote.
BASH: The share of the youth vote is almost double what it was this time four years ago in Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to the FSU and family of college Democrats.
BASH: College students here and across the pandemic stricken country, largely organized virtually. Youth turnout broke records in 2018. And researchers at Tish colleges circle at Tufts University say protests across the country help keep the surge going.
ABBY KIESA, TUFTS UNIVERSITY TISCH COLLEGE OF CIVIC LIFE: We found that young people who are marching and demonstrating, not only were more likely to be registering people to vote, but much more likely to be talking to other young people about the election and issues that they care about.
BASH: Democrats say that the climate crisis and racial justice, Republicans the economy and jobs. The Biden campaign motto is to reach young people where they are. Launching Biden/Harris designs for players on the popular Nintendo game animal crossing. Alexander Ocasio-Cortez gaming on the social media platform twitch. Joe Biden talking to Cardi B. And his granddaughters with young influencers like (inaudible) and Mattie Ziegler. The Trump campaign says their best influencers are regular young people reaching out to friends like at a March madness style competition called MAGA madness.
CHANDLER THORNTON, NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, COLLEGE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Particularly right now, there online. Especially in this environment we're in. So, leaning into digital platforms is the best way we can reach young voters.
COURTNEY BRITT, REGIONAL VICE CHAIR, COLLEGE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I don't know, it's because the pandemic has reduced the number of activities that we can do. Everyone's like turning their attention. Like there's fewer sports to follow, though this is the thing everyone is focused on.
BASH: Back on the lawn at UVA, some students are more passionate for the active voting than the candidates. These three voted for Biden.
Are you excited?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not excited about him. But I like he at least focuses on climate policy.
BASH: Some Republican students say the same.
CHRISTOPHER TOMLIN, PRESIDENT, UVA COLLEGE REPUBLICAN: I had my concerns, he wasn't too conservative. However a big fan of the tax cuts.
BASH: Kiera (inaudible), the president of UVA College Democrats organizes phone banking to voters in Virginia and battleground states across the country. She says young Democrats are motivated by Trump's 2016 win.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The evidence that he can win an election which wasn't we didn't have that last time.
BASH: It was a wakeup call?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: For more on this, I'm joined from Oakland by Charlotte Hill. She's an elections expert and PhD candidate at the University of California Berkeley. Thank you so much for being here and talking to us about this.
As we just heard, it seems young people are coming out to vote in droves. So, I want to get into you know, why you think that is. And what effect that might have? But first off, just to set the scene, many young people, you know, talk idealistically about wanting to change the world. And then literally could if they voted. You know, they're active online, they show up, you know, for demonstrations and protests, why don't they vote?
CHARLOTTE HILL, ELECTION EXPERT AND PH.D CANDIDATE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY: Voting is actually a lot harder for young people to do on average than it is for older folks. And if you hear and you think that doesn't sound right, chances are you are a little bit older. Because young people face a lot of barriers that many older folks don't. For starters, young people move much more frequently than older
Americans. And we have a registration and a voting system that has to get updated every time someone moves to a new address. You have to go and update your registration to reflect your new location as soon as you move to a new voting jurisdiction. And that's just one of the many steps that young people have to do more of, more often in order to participate.
[03:55:00]
They're also just newer to the voting system. You know? They have fewer friends and family who might be voting because they're kind of earlier in their life cycle. And they haven't had as much experience. So they have to learn about this system starting from scratch. So, it just takes a bit of time for them to get those wheels turning. To get that experience. And be able to start turning out consistently overtime.
BRUNHUBER: Right. But this year seems to be different. How much evidence is there to prove that this year they are more engaged?
HILL: Man, young people are turning out at really high rates. You know, we had historically high youth turnout in the 2018 midterm elections. And that means coming in to 2020, we have millions of young people who had experienced voting in the past election. And if you voted in a pass election, chances are really high that you're going to turn out again because you're on the voter rolls.
And that means political campaigns, is an organizations that have access to that list of past voters, they are going to say this is somebody who we know will already do the work to get out and vote. So, we're going to try to mobilize them to vote again. That means this year there are 6.8 million more young people in 2020 who have a history of voting than there were back in the 2016 general election. And we see that young people are just turning out in droves.
BRUNHUBER: OK, so that suggests then that there will actually be more youth in total who will have voted. It's not just that they have come out to vote earlier. I'm wondering though, you are a coauthor of a study that looked at Colorado. The effects of all mail voting. And you found the turnouts in groups that don't usually come out to vote among them young people, they came out more. So, I wonder what with COVID, what the emphasis on mail-in voting, could that end up being a factor.
HILL: Yes. What we find is that young people have a harder time voting in our traditional voting system. Where you got to show up at the polls and cast that ballot in person. But when you start sending people ballots proactively, you know, registered eligible voters, sending them those ballots, and they can vote from the safety and comfort of their own home. Everyone's turnout goes up, but young people's turnout seems to go up more than other groups.
BRUNHUBER: And typically young voters skew Democratic. Is that the case here, do you think? Should Democrats be rubbing their hands that the youth vote seems to be more, it seems to be higher this year? HILL: I would say so. You know, our research in Colorado didn't
actually find that there was a partisan benefit for Democrats, or for Republicans. Turnout went up approximately equally for both groups. But yes, overall looking at the whole country, young people do skewed to the left. And if we see disproportionately high youth turnout in this election, that is going to get Joe Biden a much greater chance of securing the presidency.
BRUNHUBER: Well, as somebody who studies the, you know, election systems and so on, you must be void by seeing that finally young people are participating so much this year. And hopefully that will continue into the future. Charlotte Hill, thank you very much for joining us. We really appreciate it.
HILL: Thanks for having me.
BRUNHUBER: And thank you for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber, the news continues on CNN right after this.
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