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Six Days to Go Until Election Day; COVID-19 Remains Key Issue in Final Week of Election; Trump Questions Legality of Vote Counting After November 3; Mapping Potential Paths to 270 Electoral Votes; 11 States Reporting Record Number of COVID Patients; Philadelphia Protests Erupt for Second Night After Police Shooting; Too Late to Mail Ballots in Time in Some States; Young Voters Energized Ahead of Election. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired October 28, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to you, our viewers joining us here in the United States, Canada, and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Just ahead, with six days left to vote in the U.S. election, Donald Trump and Joe Biden make their closing pitches in some surprising places.
But record numbers of Americans have already made up their minds. Pre- election voting now surpasses half of all ballots case in the 2016 election.
And the White House claims it's ended the pandemic despite cases in the U.S. reaching record new heights. Reality check on that ahead this hour.
All right. We're in the last final stretch of the U.S. presidential election so let's take a look at the state of the race six days out from November 3rd. More than 68 million ballots have already been cast according to a survey by CNN Edson Research and Catalyst. That's more than half of the total turnout for the 2016 election. But it's not over yet of course. And the candidates are still campaigning.
President Donald Trump did a swing through three states he carried in 2016, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska trying to shore up his base. His Democratic challenger Joe Biden visited Georgia, a state his party hasn't won since 1992.
Trump has a busy Wednesday planned in Arizona and Thursday he traveled to North Carolina. Biden has scheduled a quiet day in Delaware Wednesday but he's hitting the important swing state of Florida Thursday.
Now of course the coronavirus pandemic is the key issue of this election. That's because data shows it's getting worse. Right now, an average of 800 Americans are dying per day. Jim Acosta has more on how the facts are impacting the last week of the race. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I've got to say, I am working my ass off here. This is --
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 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.
TRUMP: COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. COVID, COVID, COVID. On November 4th, you won't be hearing so much about it.
ACOSTA: Democrat Joe Biden is accusing Mr. Trump of incompetence, delivering speeches in smaller, but safer socially distanced settings.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president keeps telling us not to worry. He keeps telling us we are turning the corner, is his quote. He says, removed from reality and is offensive.
ACOSTA: Pressed by CNN on whether he simply blew it on the virus, the President said he welcomed the judgment of the voters.
ACOSTA (on camera): 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.
ACOSTA (voice-over): 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.
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.
ACOSTA: Mr. Trump is also furious at Fox News for airing Obama's speeches as he longed for that network to seize former president.
[04:05:00]
TRUMP: I only thought he was doing Fox, and Fox puts him on all the time. And this would not have happened with Roger Ailes, I can tell you that.
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.
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.
ACOSTA: After putting Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court, Mr. Trump appears to be seeking her assistance of 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.
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.
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 from a 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.
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, Stu. We have a tailwind behind us. The lights just went off there, they're back on, but we have a tailwind behind us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Both candidates are looking for past the 270 electoral votes by winning individual states. CNN's John King explains which states we should watch for on the final stretch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF U.S. CORRESPONDENT: One week from tonight we count the votes, fill in this map we will find who will be the next president of the United States. In the final days, one easy lesson, follow the candidates. They give you a sense of how they see the state of the campaign.
Let's use the 2016 map as a guide to today. Where was the incumbent, the Republican President Donald Trump? Michigan and Wisconsin, two states -- you see them in red --absolutely critical to his win four years ago. Two states right now he is losing and losing badly. You look at the polls. You look at the early voting, Joe Biden has a healthy lead in those states. Donald Trump in the final days using his rallies to try to bring voters out of the woodwork, to try to have a surge in the final days right up until election day to repeat the miracle of 2016. There are many skeptics, but we'll watch it play out. Where was Joe Biden? In the state of Georgia, in the South. Usually
significant here. Joe Biden trying to stretch the map. That is not only a state that went for Trump, you have to go all the way back to 1992. You have to go back 28 years. Then governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton on his way to the presidency carried Georgia. 28 years since a Democrat carried Georgia in a presidential election. Joe Biden thinks this will be the kind of year, map changing election. A map changing election.
Let's switch maps as we take a look at why Joe Biden might be able to be confident in that assessment. Right now, we have him across the finish line, 290 electoral votes. It takes 270 to win. Dark blue, solid Biden, light blue leans Biden. Dark red, solid Trump, light red leans Trump. This is a map leaning Biden's way right now. But even if the President won all the yellow, that's the tossup. It still would not be enough. That is why the President is on the road trying to get back Michigan, trying to get back Wisconsin.
So, what do you look for in the final days? Yes, Donald Trump was trailing four years ago. Donald Trump came roaring back. So, you're looking for evidence of momentum. For example, if you go back and look at 2016, there was some evidence in the national polls it was tweeting tighter. The state polls didn't pick this up. That's why it was such a surprise. But in the national polls Hillary Clinton came in in the last week up four, stretched it to five. And then as we get closer to the election day it fell to three. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by two points.
The national polls were not wrong, and they showed Trump momentum at the end. He wanted by winning the states. So now, what are we doing in 2020? Looking at the states every day. Looking for that late surge that Trump had in 2016 and right now you can't find it. We'll keep looking, there are new polls every day. But at the moment this is a remarkably stable race leaning in Biden's favor.
Take Nevada for example. The state that used to be a Republican state, then was a purple state, now it tends to be leaning blue. "New York Times"/Siena College poll in September, Biden plus four. Beginning of October, Biden plus six. Again, at the end of October, Biden plus six. Stability again in a battleground state we lean Biden's way. We look every day for any signs of volatility, any signs of late Trump momentum. A week to go, at the moment though, we don't see it. Advantage Biden without a doubt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The Trump campaign website seems to be back up and running after a hack. This page was posted on Donald J. Trump.com Tuesday saying the world had had enough of the fake news spread by the President. Whoever was behind it claimed, without evidence, to have dirt on Trump.
[04:10:00]
The campaign says no sensitive data was compromised and it's working with law enforcement to investigate. The U.S. is on track to reach 100,000 new COVID-19 infections every
day. The U.S. health expert says it's because of a lack of federal policy, but that hasn't stopped the White House from adding a new achievement to their record. A news release sent to media outlets claimed the Trump administration ended the COVID-19 pandemic. But nothing of course could be farther from the truth with U.S. infections at an all-time high. CNN's Nick Watt has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North Dakota leads the nation, with an alarming rate of new infections. Why?
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE COORDINATOR: This is the least use of masks that we have seen in retail establishments of any place we have been.
WATT: In South Dakota, a stunning 40 percent of tests now coming back positive. Anything over 5 percent is a worry.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We are in the middle of a major COVID storm. Every indicator, every metric that we have is trending in the wrong direction. But we're not seeing behaviors change.
WATT: This country is now averaging nearly 70,000 new infections every day, highest ever nine months in, but the President and some Americans appear to be giving up.
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: If we took some aggressive, targeted steps right now, we could potentially forestall the worst of it. But we're not going to do that. And I think we're right now at the cusp of what's going to be exponential spread in parts of the country.
WATT: And this is a potential issue. One type of antibody immunity after infection appears to wane fast, according to a new study, down, on average, 26 percent in three months, dropping fastest in the asymptomatic and over 75s.
Eleven states already reporting record numbers in the hospital, desperate measures in El Paso, Texas.
DEE MARGO (R), MAYOR OF EL PASO, TEXAS: We have just got a surge that I'm not sure exactly where it's coming from. But we have got four tents, pressurized tents, set up at hospitals for overflow.
WATT: Thirty-seven states in all seeing average case counts rise right now.
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D) ILLINOIS: Our knowledge of what works in the battle against this virus has grown significantly since the spring. But the virus isn't going away. And it's constantly looking for new hosts.
WATT: The President loves to push this fallacy:
TRUMP: Do you know why we have cases so much? Because that's all we do is test.
WATT: A myth just busted by his own testing czar.
ADMIRAL BRETT GIROIR, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TESTING CZAR: Testing maybe identifying some more cases. I think that's clearly true. But what we're seeing is a real increase in the numbers.
WATT (on camera): And here in the U.S. more than 60 percent of Americans say that the Federal government is making the recovery from COVID worse. Now, we just heard from the mayor of El Paso who says there's a surge there. He's not quite where it's coming from, but he has an idea. Because this stimulus package is mired in Washington right now, he said people are testing positive and going to work anyway because they need the paycheck.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Europe is also dealing with a massive surge of coronavirus cases and governments on the continent are expected to put strict new measures in place to slow the spread. We'll have live reports coming up later this hour.
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 business. Monday's incident began with a call about a man with a knife. Cell phone video shows what happened. And just a warning, it's disturbing to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch my word. You (BEEP) young man. This is crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move, move, move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, oh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Wallace's father speaking with CNN's Chris Cuomo says violence and looting isn't the right way to demand justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER WALLACE SR., FATHER OF WALTER WALLACE JR.: Well, I want people to know, I don't pertain to all this violence and looting, you know what I mean, and I don't want to leave a bad scar on my son, and my family, with this looting and chaos stuff, you know what I mean, with the violent, must with -- even with the Police Department, looting stores, burning.
I mean, this is where we live, and that's the only community resource we have. And we take all the resource, burn it down, we don't have anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:15:00]
BRUNHUBER: The district attorney's office and the police are investigating. Police say 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.
Still ahead, the latest on an election already in full swing. A record breaking number of Americans have cast their ballots early, as a Texas court issues a key ruling on ballot drop boxes. Those details are coming up. Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are really starting to recognize just all of the different chaos within the political climate right now, that voting is the only real say that we can have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Republicans and Democrats scramble to turn out the youth vote. Next, why that demographic could make all difference in this election. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: The Texas Supreme Court has sided with Governor Greg Abbott in a dispute over ballot drop boxes. Abbott issued an order limiting drop boxes to one per county. Critics say that forces voters in larger counties to travel further to cast their ballot. But the court ruling says Abbott's order doesn't disenfranchise anyone.
[04:20:00]
Well, Turnout in the U.S. election is on track to be record setting. Already more than 68 million people have voted early, 46 million of those votes are mail-in ballots. And that's been President Trump's focus when he questions the election's integrity. Pamela Brown reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As of tonight, for many voters it's too late to use the Post Office to return absentee ballots. The Postal Service says today was the last day where you could send them and have them guaranteed to arrive on Election Day.
For those states with strict deadlines, it's now better to use a ballot box or bring the ballot to an election office.
VIRGINIA KASE, CEO, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE UNITED STATES: We are keeping an especially close watch on state where is ballots cannot be counted until election day.
BROWN: While many states allow mail-in ballots post marked by election day to be counted days after the election, some states have stricter deadlines. In Wisconsin, a crucial swing state, mail-in ballots must be received by Election Day to count. The Supreme Court rejected a Democratic attempt to allow mail-in votes postmarked by Election Day to be counted up to six days after the election there.
But it's an opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh that is getting attention. It says states, quote, 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. The language mirrors President Trump's rhetoric about calling a winner on election night.
TRUMP: I want to see the results of the election on November 3rd.
BROWN: While Trump's own administration officials say it's OK for the results to take more time.
CHRIS KREBS, DIRECTOR, CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: On November 3rd, we might not know the outcome of our election, and that's OK.
BROWN: The President is taking to Twitter this morning to cast doubt on that. Saying in a tweet that's been labeled as misleading, must have final total on November 3rd.
So far, millions of mail-in votes give Democrats significant leads over Republicans in key states. But Republicans have made up ground in in-person early voting in battleground Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina.
Still, Republicans must place their bets on a blockbuster Election Day turnout.
AMY CONEY BARRETT, U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: I, Amy Coney Barrett ...
BROWN: On the first day on the job, the newly appointed Supreme Court Justice, Amy Coney Barrett, already facing pressure. A Pennsylvania county asked Barrett to recuse herself from a request from state Republicans to block mail-in ballots from being counted up to three days after the election. It's one of several challenges to voting rules in key states being considered by the high court.
(on camera): Less than a week before election day and rules continue to change in some states. Like the all-important case of Michigan, where a judge struck down a ban on guns at polling places.
Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: It 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.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The University of Virginia sophomore Libby Klinger is up early on a Saturday ready to roll. Joining fellow campus Republicans to get out to vote.
LIBBY KLINGER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, UVA COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: There is 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 are the diehard that still say everyone they know is voting.
KAYLEE CORVIN, OUTREACH COORDINATOR, UVA COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: People are really starting to recognize just all of the different chaos within the political climate right now. That voting is only a real say that we can have.
BASH: UVA Democrats are driving people to the polls. Hunter Hess (ph) waited with Nade Connick (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, I voted (INAUDIBLE).
BASH (on camera): There's almost like a you feel a little peer pressure to vote?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BASH (voice-over): 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.
[04:25:00]
And researchers at Tisch 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 Kaia Gerber and Maddie 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, they're 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 if it's because the pandemic has reduced the number of activities that we can do. But everyone's like turning their attention. Yes, like there's fewer sports to follow, so 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.
(on camera): 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 Goddu, 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.
KIERA GODDU, PRESIDENT, UVA COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: The evidence that he can win an election which wasn't we didn't have that last time.
BASH (on camera): It was a wakeup call?
GODDU: Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: That was CNN's Dana Bash reporting.
Zeta has strengthened back to a category 1 hurricane and it's barreling towards the U.S. Gulf Coast. The storm sustaining winds of more than 120 kilometers per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Hurricane Zeta is expected to hit the U.S. later today bringing heavy rain and damaging winds. Louisiana residents started filling sandbags on Tuesday in preparation for the storm. More than 14 million people are under storm watches for the Gulf Coase to the North Georgia mountains.
Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, the U.S. has seen record voting turnout and there are still six days to go until election day.
Plus, coronavirus cases are climbing across the U.S. and in Europe too. CNN's live in Paris where new restrictions are expected. Stay with us.
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