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Biden and Trump Fight for Votes in Final Hours Before Election Day; Pennsylvania Governor to Air Ad Urging Patience Around Election Day; Trump, Biden Hit Final Key Battleground States Before Election Day; Trump Suggests He May Fire Fauci After Crowd Chanted "Fire Fauci"; Oil Prices Tumble As Lockdowns Stoke U.K. Recession Fears. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 02, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:30]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, here we are. Good morning, everyone. We're so glad you're with us. It's Monday. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto. It is election eve. If you haven't voted yet, go vote. You have until tomorrow night.

And of course the nation, many parts of it on edge. With just hours to go, each campaign is fighting for every last vote, willing last-minute holdouts in key battleground states, and both campaigns converging on the state of Pennsylvania this final day.

Already more than 93 million Americans have cast their ballots. That is more than two-thirds of the total number of voters in 2016. Just remarkable turnout, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. It's a huge number, and it is fueled by enthusiasm, it is fueled by a pandemic that is also growing worse by the day. 50,000 Americans right now are in the hospital due to COVID-19. States across the country battling surges that the experts warn will only get more dire.

We are live across the country this morning. Let's begin in the Keystone State in so many ways this election with our Alexandra Field.

Good morning, Alex.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Poppy. Good morning to you. People right behind me in Pittsburgh are lined up to drop off their mail-in ballots in person. That is the way to do it on the day before the election. At the same time you've got both campaigns locked in a battle to get people to the polls tomorrow. No one is taking their eye off of Pennsylvania.

You've got President trump making a four-state swing, including a stop in Scranton. He's got Vice President Mike Pence doing campaign stops in Erie and Latrobe. As for the Democrats, they are adding some star power to the Pennsylvania roster. Joe Biden will be campaigning on election eve right here in Pittsburgh, alongside Lady Gaga. And in the eastern part of the state in Philadelphia, you'll see Senator Kamala Harris alongside John Legend.

This is a critical state because it's a state that President Trump was able to flip with just 44,000 votes back in 2016. Pennsylvania polls show Joe Biden with a narrow lead, but he is leaving nothing to chance, trying to appeal to a broad swathe of voters with a pretty singular message, that he is the man to best lead the commonwealth and the country through COVID -- Jim, Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Alexandra Field, good to have you there, thank you.

This morning President Trump in another state that promises to help turn this election, that of course once again Florida, before starting his five-event four-state campaign swing. Ambitious?

CNN's Randi Kaye is in Florida with more. What are we going to see today?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jim and Poppy. I'm here in Broward County, in Lauder Hill, Florida. We're at the Supervisor Elections Voting Equipment Center where they are well into tabulating the early votes, that's the mail-in voting and the early in-person voting. There's a flurry of activity behind me here, all of that is being uploaded into the machines so they'll be ready to go tomorrow on election day.

But Donald Trump is waking up here in Florida, in Miami, just south of here. He had a late-night rally in Miami-Dade last night, ended about 12:48 in the morning, well past curfew. He is going to head to four states today, he's going to Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Florida, though, still a tossup. No clear leader here, and certainly we've been looking a lot at the African-American turnout here in the state.

It is lagging in Miami and in Miami-Dade. It's a big reason why Barack Obama is heading here today. He's going to have an election close-out rally this evening in Miami. He is really trying to rally support among African-American voters for the Biden camp, trying to offset some of the support that Donald Trump is seeing from Cuban Americans.

For years he's been hammering home the message that Democrats mean socialism. Cuban Americans are buying into that and that has really resonated with them. So certainly all eyes on Florida here with Barack Obama in the state today -- Jim, Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. Randi Kaye, thank you so much for the reporting on the ground there.

Let's go to Cleveland now where Joe Biden will begin his day. Our Gary Tuchman is in Cleveland.

Good morning, Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Poppy and Jim, good morning to you. It's one day to election day but this is day 24 of early voting in the state of Ohio. Every county, all 88 counties in the state open the doors at 8:00 a.m. this morning, including this one, Cuyahoga County, home of Cleveland. You can see this line right here. People started lining up at 6:00 a.m., two hours early. It was dak, it was snowing. The windchill was 27 degrees.

The snow has stopped. It is no longer dark, the windchill has gone up one degree, 28 degrees, and the line now stretches more than 400 people down the block to participate in the early voting.

[09:05:07]

I can tell you here in the state of Ohio, they haven't missed the presidential election. They've gotten every presidential election winner correct 14 straight elections. Four years ago, Donald Trump won this state by over 8 percentage points but right now the race is too close to call.

This is a must-win state for Donald Trump but it's Joe Biden who's campaigning here today. The decision was made by the Biden campaign to add a stop in Ohio today so later this morning, about 10 minutes up the road here in downtown Cleveland, Joe Biden will be participating in a campaign event.

We could tell you the secretary of state who is a Republican here in this county, in this state, I mean, told us yesterday that there's record-setting early voting. He says by the time the early voting is over they'll know the figures tonight.

More than 50 percent of the registered voters in this state will have participated in early voting. He also says all votes will be counted. They're very lenient here. It has to be postmarked by today, absentee ballots, but you have until 10 days after the election is over for the mailman to deliver the absentee ballot and it will be counted --Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: That is just a happy story of this election, right, those people lining up behind you. We've seen it in so many states voting as is their right.

Gary Tuchman, thanks very much.

We are following all key voting headlines this morning. Pennsylvania officials are already saying it will be days or even longer before all ballots are counted in that state.

HARLOW: So the Governor Tom Wolf is urging patience and Pennsylvania secretary of state has also issued new guidance saying that late arriving ballots postmarked by tomorrow, election day, that arrived through Friday will be counted. That is drawing fire from the Trump campaign. The president says he is sending his lawyers to the state on election night to challenge mail-in ballot measures, a challenge Kristen Holmes, who joins us now, a challenge, Kristen, that they've really been expecting in Pennsylvania.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. I mean, this was the big concern over that Supreme Court case, once the justices said to segregate those ballots after they came in after 8:00 p.m. on election night. There was a lot of concern about litigation.

Now I want to start because we are all eyes on Pennsylvania. I want to start with Governor Tom Wolf's ad that you talked about urging patience. CNN has learned that he will release a television ad statewide on election day telling people to remain calm, and it is normal that these results will likely take longer than just election day to come in.

Now it goes to show you just how much concern there is over the fact that there will likely not be results on election night. Whether it be invalid claims about victory or baseless claims about fraud or just unrest, and this ad is going to air every single day until all the ballots are counted and a winner has been announced. So take a listen to part of this ad here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TOM WOLF (D-PA): Folks in our election offices, your neighbors, family and friends, are working hard ensuring every single vote is counted. So it may take a little longer than we're used to, even a few days, but that's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And Poppy, I want to touch on something you just said here, which is that Donald Trump said in a rally over the weekend that he would be sending lawyers into or the campaign will be sending lawyers into Pennsylvania on election night to question or challenge the validity and the expediency of counting those ballots.

Let's be very clear here. It will likely not have a result and that is completely normal. In the state of Pennsylvania there have been more than 2.2 million absentee ballots cast. They are not allowed to process, scan, count a single absentee ballot until 7:00 a.m. on election day. This is a lengthy process. This is going to delay results.

And we have also learned that there are several counties who are going to process a single ballot until the next day because they say they are understaffed or they don't have time or it's within their right. So I want to talk a little bit about that extension we talked about with SCOTUS. We did see yesterday the secretary of state in Pennsylvania issuing new guidance about those late arriving mail-in ballots.

She now says that they should be counted and that they should go forward as being counted. So this is already drawing fire from the campaign. We've talked to legal experts today who say that this might just be a preview or likely to be a preview of the litigation we're going to see after the election, regarding these ballots particularly if it's a close race.

Now one last thing to touch on. We keep talking about these deadlines, deadlines, deadlines, and what they mean for ballots. The United States Postal Service has now been ordered by a judge to mandate, quote, "extraordinary measures" to address a delay in processing ballots in certain mailing centers. So they are now going to be using express mail, which guarantees delivery in one to two days for those ballots.

But it is important to point out, we are a day from the election. A lot of these states still have those deadlines of the day of, so this is a little bit late here on that.

HARLOW: OK. Kristen, all such important headlines. Thank you for running through them for us.

[09:10:04]

SCIUTTO: No question. And as Kristen highlights there, listen to the facts. You, the listener, the viewer can find lots of helpful information all in one place from your local voting locations to what time polls are open. All of this at CNN.com/vote. It's very helpful if you have questions, go there. You'll find your answer.

HARLOW: For sure.

So joining us to talk about all these big headlines, Jackie Alemany, author of "The Washington Post's" "Power Up," and Marc Caputo, a senior political reporter for "Politico" in Florida.

Good to have you, guys. Marc, let me begin with you. You have a really fascinating piece on Pennsylvania this morning. And I ask you this, I want to show people this video of the president's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, which even a Democratic strategist Rebecca Katz told you it's hard not to look at this crowd and not be completely terrified that he could win again. Hopefully we'll be able to show people some crowd shots, not just the lovely sunset behind him.

But to that point, can you speak to your reporting on the early voting in Pennsylvania versus the other battleground states? Because you write fewer 2016 voters in Pennsylvania have turned out during early voting than in the other rustbelt states.

MARC CAPUTO, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Right, well, early voting in the form it is in Pennsylvania is completely new to them, and what you see in states is that you have kind of two problems with that when you introduce a new major way of voting. There's a problem on the voter side and there's also a problem on the election administration side, and people are just kind of getting used to this.

Now it is true that during the primary there were also a record number of these pre-election day ballots, these early votes cast, so what Pennsylvania also has that the other states don't have is this intense focus.

The Keystone State is probably aptly named because it looks like it is the state that both Trump and Biden are going to fight over the hardest in the final days, and as was mentioned earlier, the president has a strategy of sending his lawyers there and he wants to stop as many of these mail-in ballots especially what they're going to classify as late-arriving ballots from getting counted.

And there's an entire legal problem that could crop up if the legislature decides to step in and invalidate the results.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CAPUTO: Now I don't want to spread conspiracy theories. These things could happen in the future and these are the things that people in Pennsylvania are talking about, Democrats especially, they're also nervous, Democrats are, about GOP plans to send poll watchers to all of the precincts and there are fears and concerns about voter intimidation. So a lot of things going on in Pennsylvania.

I'm based in Florida, and I got to say I'm looking at Pennsylvania like thank God it's not us.

SCIUTTO: Well, we should be careful about language, to even categorize ballots as late arriving because by law --

CAPUTO: Correct.

SCIUTTO: -- they are not late arriving. Right?

HARLOW: Right.

SCIUTTO: I mean, this is a description that's gone out there. By law they are perfectly valid and we have to be clear about that. Jackie --

(CROSSTALK)

CAPUTO: Right. I mean, I think that's why I made sure to say that that's how they classify them as that. I was not saying that myself.

SCIUTTO: No, no, for sure, and it wasn't a criticism of you, just as folks are processing this at home, you know, be careful to what you listen because there's a lot of disinformation out there about what is a valid ballot and what is not.

Jackie, you know, clearly Pennsylvania is a focus here, and rightly so, because the president essentially needs it to win, but I wonder, are we missing something here, just to play devil's advocate for a moment, to focus so much on Pennsylvania? Because the other notable phenomenon now again based on polling is just how close the race is in states that President Trump won handily in 2016. North Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, even Texas, that you have remarkable things going on in other states. I imagine we could be surprised as to what state turns this election ultimately.

JACKIE ALEMANY, AUTHOR, THE WASHINGTON POST'S "POWER UP": Yes, Jim, you're exactly right. I mean, the focus on Pennsylvania is warranted in that it is going to be a very, very close race, and there is a perfect storm of factors brewing as Marc noted that makes the race pretty unpredictable.

But I'm here in Georgia, I spent the weekend here in the suburbs outside of Atlanta, and what we've seen and what so many people have seen here since really 2016, since the advent of Trumpism, is the bubbling up of a blue wave that the state is now on the precipice of actually achieving largely in part to Stacey Abrams, after her 2018 bid against the now Governor Brian Kemp.

She really mobilized this state, created three organizations that helped with voter turnout registration and outreach to underserved and minority communities. Every single person I talk to, dozens of voters, strategists and activists say that this effort to get people politically involved civically engaged has made all the difference but what I'm also focusing on that I think is really a microcosm of the president's larger problem across some of these red states, he won Georgia by five. He ostensibly should not be campaigning in roam rural Georgia, you know, on the eve before election eve.

[09:15:00]

If this is actually a solid state for him. But he's having problems with white voters, specifically, white women voters. You know, we heard the tale of, you know, suburban house moms gone wild throughout this entire cycle, but I really saw it firsthand on a hyper local level, a bunch of women who are volunteering for the first time in Cobb County, Georgia, which voted overwhelmingly for Mitt Romney in 2012.

And then finally, took a step out of the closet as a lot of the women described to me in 2016, when it swung for Hillary Clinton. Now, the place is completely galvanized. There's this very local candidate running for house district who is trying to unseat an 18-year incumbent, and she believes this woman, Sara Tindall Ghazal, that there's going to be a trickle-up effect, that the movement is so strong amongst women who have never volunteered in their life and now knocking on doors and trying to turn the state blue.

SCIUTTO: Listen, so many surprises are possible here, right, and I suppose one thing we could count on is that we're going to be surprised by some things that come out tomorrow. Jackie, Mark, great to draw on your broad experience here, and I'm sure we'll be talking to you again in the coming days.

ALEMANY: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Still to come this hour, 127,000 ballots on the line in Texas. A federal judge is set to hear a challenge to drive-through voting in the largest and democratic-leaning county in the state, a Harris County clerk with a central role in all this joins us next.

HARLOW: Also, all of this as the nation continues to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The president is suggesting that he may fire the doctor that Americans trust most, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Can he even do that? Next.

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[09:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. Right now, 127,000 ballots that have already been cast by the way are at stake in Texas as Republicans there try to get them thrown out. All those ballots were dropped off legally during drive-through voting in Harris County, big county, 5 million some-odd people there around Houston.

Next hour, a federal judge will hear the Republican group's challenge to those votes, even though the state's all-Republican Supreme Court rejected that challenge on Sunday. With me now to discuss the potential repercussions of this is the Harris County clerk, Chris Hollins. Mr. Hollins, thanks so much for taking time this morning.

CHRIS HOLLINS, CLERK FOR HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: Good morning, Jim, glad to be here.

SCIUTTO: So, we have a decision coming in the next couple of hours. What do you expect in this ruling, and if you lose, will you intend to appeal to the Supreme Court?

HOLLINS: Well, Jim, this judge took an oath, and that oath is to defend the laws and the constitution of the United States, and the law is clearly on our side here. We follow Texas' election code to the "T". We consulted with the Texas Secretary of State in setting up drive-through voting, and our plans have been public for many months.

And now more than 100,000 Texans have cast their ballots in this way. This is completely legal, and as you noted, an all-Republican Texas Supreme Court has thrown this case out as illegitimate, and this judge should do the same thing today.

SCIUTTO: The Republicans' argument is that by the constitution, it is state legislatures that set the rules for an election, not local counties. What's your response to that argument?

HOLLINS: We agree a 100 percent, and that's why we follow the Texas election code which was created by the Texas legislature. We are allowed to have polling places inside buildings and inside movable structures, and that's what set up.

These are large tent structures that you can drive into and cast your ballot, and you cast your ballot on machines in the exact same way that folks who walk into other voting centers do. So, it's completely legal. In fact, when I was last on this show, Jim, we were talking about adding voting machines to a small library.

We did that, and the way that we did it was by adding tents outside of their library. And so, not only would they seek to throw out the 127,000 votes, but there are other votes across Harris County that have been cast in this same way.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you about the efforts there in Harris County. You have this attack on drive-in voting. You have the limitation of one-to-one drop box in a county with 5 million people, but of course, steps in many states across the country. I want to quote from an editorial in "The Washington Post" by a Republican election lawyer, Benjamin Ginsberg.

He writes, "the challenging voters at the polls are disputing the legitimacy of mail-in ballots isn't about fraud, rather than producing conservative policies that appeal to suburban women, young voters or racial minorities. Republicans are trying to exclude their votes." Do you agree that that's the intention here with this case that you're facing and others?

HOLLINS: That's absolutely the case, and these folks should be ashamed. This is simply un-American, this goes against every concept in our democracy. And Republicans and Democrats are on our side. Just this morning, a brief was filed by the former -- the former leader of this state House of Representatives who is a Republican, saying that drive-through voting is legal, that we should count these votes, and that again, it's simply un-American to even consider throwing them out.

SCIUTTO: If you were to lose today, and again, that's a big "if", but I'm just curious what your -- how you're planning for that possibility? It's 127,000 people who have legally cast their votes already. How will you contact these voters so that they would have a chance to come in and vote by other means?

HOLLINS: We do expect to win, but we are prepared to marshal all county resources including emergency response technology to reach out to all 127,000 of potentially affected voters. We do have tomorrow election day and we're going to do whatever we can to get them out there and make sure that their voices are heard and that their votes are counted.

[09:25:00]

And beyond that, there's still a million Harris County voters who haven't made it to the polls yet. We're excited that we've set records with 1.4 million voters coming in during the early voting, but we want to make sure that all of those folks have an opportunity to get out safely and conveniently. And that's what we're going to do. We have over 800 locations tomorrow, all of which are equipped to handle voters safely and smoothly, and we're going to try and count all of those votes. That's our job.

SCIUTTO: Well, that is a big story, this election, around the country, but certainly in places like Harris County, the millions of Americans voting and far ahead of where we were in 2016. Chris Hollins, we wish you good luck in the coming days.

HOLLINS: Thanks so much. All votes matter.

SCIUTTO: Poppy?

HARLOW: Yes, they do. All right, so the rally goers over the weekend to the president were chanting "fire Fauci". Now, the president says he might listen. We'll have more on that ahead this hour, and to the markets, we're moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street, take a look at equity futures, they're up this morning.

Oil prices though falling sharply because of major concerns about the slowdown in Europe's economy, strict lockdowns there, record COVID cases here in the United States. What does that do to demand? Decisions by European governments to impose another round of severe restrictions is weighing heavily on the energy markets.

Recent data also has economists concerned that Europe's economy could fall into another technical recession. We'll keep a close eye on oil prices and the markets. We're back after a quick break.

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