Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Trump Will Win Alaska; Misinformation Continues to Spread on Internet; Texas Records One Million COVID-19 Infections. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 11, 2020 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Of course, these counties are preparing. The Trump campaign has said that they're going to ask for a recount -- Jim. It's important to note in the state of Georgia, well, the taxpayers would have to pay for that, not the Trump campaign.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and the lieutenant governor there too, right? -- a Republican -- also said no evidence of widespread fraud. Facts matter. Dianne Gallagher, thanks very much.

Breaking this morning, CNN projects now that President Trump will win the state of Alaska. This gives the president three more electoral votes, bringing his total to 217. Does not change the outcome.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, there are still states too close to call -- among them? Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina. Our senior political analyst John Avlon here with the latest tallies. Good morning, John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, guys. Let's take a look at the national numbers for a second because this is really extraordinary. Joe Biden has just passed 5 million-vote lead. That is a major milestone. And you take a look at that popular gap, see it's over almost 3.5 percent.

This is a big deal. Why? Not only because you're seeing unprecedented votes -- we've never seen one presidential candidate get above 70 million. Now you've got two. But also because Joe Biden's on his way to the biggest win defeating an incumbent by a challenger since FDR in 1932. This is history all over.

Now let's go to the states because that's where the real fight is. Georgia's on our mind again, and this is pretty extraordinary. You see this race is tight, it's 0.3 percent, it is a 14,000-vote gap but that has grown consistently. Biden seems to be in a very strong position with 99 percent reporting.

All right. Now, kicking down over to Arizona, this one has been moving in the other direction. This has been moving in Trump's direction, Biden's still in the lead by a fairly decisive amount. It's a 0.4- percent gap. But you see that Trump's got -- gaining ground, and there's a lot of hope here. Here's the additional hurdle: 46,000 ballots are still outstanding. Can Trump make up that gap and flip Arizona back? We'll see. But still, Joe Biden in the pole position.

Finally, Pennsylvania, the Keystone State that CNN called for Joe Biden? This is still 0.7 percent race. But look, the margin, 47,000 votes. And this is pretty extraordinary, that exceeds Donald Trump's margin in 2016 in Keystone State, and 49,000 votes still outstanding. So eyes here, but Biden in a very strong position.

SCIUTTO: All right, so what do we know about certification dates for these states, and do those close counts change those at all?

AVLON: Look, this is one of the key questions that everybody's fighting over, the Trump campaign obviously trying to delay certification. So let's look exactly at some of those dates.

In Georgia, certification date is November 20th. Pennsylvania, November 23rd, also the same day as Michigan. Nevada, one day later, November 24th. Arizona, November 30th; Wisconsin, December first. These are really key because once they're certified, then it starts moving towards the Electoral College for a final, final count.

But this is one of the key dates to keep in mind because that's what's going to be contested as much as anything else, going forward.

HARLOW: John Avlon, so good to have you. Thanks as always.

AVLON: Thanks, guys. Take care.

HARLOW: All right, so despite the hard numbers that John Avlon just laid out so well for us, the president and his allies are still spreading disinformation about the results of the election, and those false claims are going viral on social media.

CNN tech reporter Brian Fung is with us. Good morning, Brian. A key problem here is that this disinformation spreads like wildfire -- just like before the election, now after the election -- on the biggest social media platforms that said that they wouldn't let it happen.

BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECH REPORTER: That's right. We're seeing a wave of misinformation now, after the election, that's furthering this narrative of baseless accusations of voter fraud and that the election was illegitimate.

Just as an example here, "New York Times" writer Kevin Roose came up with a roundup of a number of headlines that are currently circulating on social media, and that he says are the -- among the most engaged links that are out there right now: claims of irregularities, claims of -- reports about investigations into those irregularities.

Roose adds that, you know, some of these headlines are accurate technically in that Republican officials are making these claims and they're being reported on, but they're written in such a way -- and the stories are written in such a way as to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election outcome, something that election officials at the state, local and federal levels largely disagree with.

And you know, just as an example here, the Department of Homeland Security has pushed back on claims of dead people voting in the election, saying that, you know, many states have policies put in place designed to prevent that from happening.

[10:35:00]

And you know, some tech companies have made steps to try and curb this misinformation. Facebook, earlier this week, you know, took steps to remove accounts and pages linked to Steve Bannon that were, you know, making it look like certain claims were much more popular than they actually were. Nevertheless, it seems as though a lot of this misinformation is still spreading faster than the tech companies are able to catch it.

HARLOW: Right, because it's violating the spirit of the law or the rule, and maybe not technically the rule. So how do you deal with that? It's a huge problem. But when you create the platform, you've got to deal with what's on it.

Before you go, you have done some new reporting on YouTube, specifically YouTube video that spread false information saying Biden actually lost Pennsylvania, therefore lost his president-elect status. That got more than a million views, was shared very widely on Facebook. Why did it not get flagged, and how much other misinformation is being spread on YouTube?

FUNG: Right. Well, this video, as you said, got more than a million views as of this morning. It has more than 1.7 million views, and all it has at the bottom of the video is a label from YouTube saying that the "Associated Press" called the race for Biden.

Nevertheless, that video remains on YouTube and YouTube told me that this video does not violate its policies even though it makes a claim that RealClearPolitics reversed its call for Pennsylvania despite the fact that RealClearPolitics itself came out and said this is false and we have not -- we never called Pennsylvania, and nothing has changed on our website.

And so you know, this video continues to circulate online, continues to get views. And YouTube said it doesn't violate its policies because it only bans misinformation related to how to vote, it doesn't ban misinformation about election outcomes or the counting of ballots.

Now, that's obviously, you know, a really interesting turn when you consider what YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki cited in an interview with CNN earlier last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: This is an election unlike any other, as we all know, because of the pandemic, because of mail-in voting, because of all of this -- because of the president not saying that he will necessarily accept the results of the election.

if the president or Joe Biden prematurely declares victory and they or their campaign or someone posts that video on YouTube, will it stay on YouTube or will you take it down? SUSAN WOJCICKI, CEO, YOUTUBE: It's really hard to talk about

hypotheticals because we would have to actually look at the video. But you know, we certainly are going to have very clear guidelines around that and we're going to focus to make sure that we have authoritative information coming from sources like the A.P. for example that would be having that trusted information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FUNG: Now, obviously, we're seeing now concrete examples rather than hypotheticals here that YouTube is having to grapple with. And it's not clear that the policies it's put in place and the labels it's slapping on YouTube videos are going to be quite enough -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Brian, keep us posted if you get any updates on changes that they're making because people see this stuff and they believe it. Thanks for the reporting.

[10:38:20]

All right, well Texas is the first state in the nation to surpass, sadly, a million COVID cases. One city there -- El Paso -- being hit extremely hard. We have an update for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Forty-five states right now are seeing an increase in new coronavirus cases. This is as the United States records more than 100,000 new cases for an eighth straight day. About a tenth of the nation's more than 10 million positive cases now have been reported in Texas, which just surpassed a million total infections.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Omar Jimenez has more from El Paso, Texas, where some eight percent of the population has been infected with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. What are you seeing there now, Omar?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNTRANSLATED)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Churches are empty, businesses no different. And the new reality for El Paso, Texas, where coronavirus has taken hold unlike any other place in the country.

Based on the number of active cases in the population, one in every 30 people in the county actively has COVID-19. The test positivity rate has been at 20 percent or higher since before Halloween, nearly 1,100 people are in the hospital with coronavirus, record levels, and the virus continues to claim lives.

MINERVA MORALES, MOTHER OF DANIEL MORALES: He went to work, that was the last time we saw him. That's the last time his children saw him.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Daniel Morales, a nurse, fought for weeks.

M. MORALES: We'd gather in front of the hospital in the parking lot, every evening at 9:00 p.m., and we'd pray because we believed he'd come home.

FRANCISCO MORALES, FATHER OF DANIEL MORALES: I'd always have a positive nature where he's going to be fine, he's going to -- he's fighting this thing off, he's fighting it, he'll be fine. And he never recovered.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Daniel Morales was 39 years old, leaving a wife and four kids behind. It's a pain that's become all too familiar.

[10:45:00]

JIMENEZ: This is one of six mobile morgues currently in operation here in El Paso, and they say there are more on the way, just to try and keep up with the number of deaths that we have seen here. All in all, officials here say they can hold up to 176 bodies if necessary. You couple that possibility with what's been a record level of hospitalizations here, and officials say they are on the brink of disaster.

DAVID STOUT, COUNTY COMMISSIONER IN EL PASO, TEXAS: We're in a dire situation.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): David Stout is a county commissioner in El Paso, and knows the medical examiner may need even more resources.

STOUT: He's also asked that we start looking for an actual brick-and- mortar situation that has refrigeration.

JIMENEZ: And that's purely because you have so many bodies backing up?

STOUT: Exactly.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): In recent weeks, the county judge instituted a shutdown of nonessential businesses. Some are pushing back.

JOHN HALMQUIST, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, PIZZA PROPERTIES, INC: Our team members don't have paychecks. If we don't have hours to give them because we can't serve customers, they don't get paid.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): The state supports the businesses, calling the judge's move illegal, pushing for other mitigation strategies. Stout supports the county judge's order and an extension of the shutdown, especially as numbers across Texas continue to rise.

STOUT: When things start getting worse everywhere else, I mean, people are going to have to go back to those other places, right? And then what's going to happen in El Paso --

JIMENEZ (voice-over): But the debate over how to proceed -- shut down or not --

M. MORALES: These are his ashes.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): -- is a back-and-forth Morales no longer has patience for.

M. MORALES: We have an empty chair now. We have a void that will never be filled. And you know what? If I lose my house, if I lose my car, I'll replace it, I'll rebuild. But you cannot bring my son back. You can't. And they're arguing over this, and it makes me angry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: And we're still waiting to hear whether the county judge's order -- shutting down nonessential businesses -- will be extended, or whether the state's appeal will win out.

As for Daniel's mother, when you ask her what his kids' biggest fear is, they say their mother -- a nurse -- going to work, because they lost their father when he went to work the last time they ever saw him -- Poppy, Jim.

HARLOW: What a story, only 39 years old. Omar, thank you very much.

SCIUTTO: Well, despite President Trump's unwillingness to concede, to recognize reality, several world leaders, they've reached out to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. We're going to have reaction from around the globe, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:52:03]

SCIUTTO: There's breaking news now out of Georgia regarding a recount there. Dianna Gallagher, tell us what it is.

GALLAGHER: Yes, Jim, the secretary of state of Georgia just announced -- and he is still talking and giving details, but -- just announced that he is ordering a hand-recount of every single vote in the presidential race in the state of Georgia. We're talking nearly 5 million votes here in the state of Georgia that he is going to order after county certification -- which is due by Friday, this Friday -- to take place.

Now, it sounds like he's still saying that the same deadline for the state is going to be on November 20th to certify, so that gives a very small window for this to happen.

This isn't necessarily how Georgia law spells it out. They use ballot- marking devices, which print out this QR code as well as text of who you voted for. They are going to go through by hand and check each vote, who they voted for, on that page. It's going to take a long time. This is extraordinary right now, Jim, and exactly what the Trump campaign was asking for.

HARLOW: And he's gotten a lot of pressure from the two Republican senators as well --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: -- Dianne, thanks a ton, that's a big deal. The world is reacting and pouring in with their reaction about the

chaotic transition of power here in the U.S. Our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is with us.

Biden has gotten six calls from world leaders -- that of course includes U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Perhaps the most clear-eyed one has been from Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. And I say that because, you know, she's the one that's been the quickest to say yes we need to have what Joe Biden, president-elect, wants, which is a strong transatlantic alliance. But hey, Germany has some input on that. We're offering a new deal -- that's their position -- with new ideas. She's talking about a relationship based on trust and cooperation.

Now, why are the Germans framing it this way? Remember, under Trump, they got a really bad bruising -- Merkel in particular -- over NATO, over Russian gas lines, all those sorts of things.

So looking at the United States right now, looking at what President Trump is doing right now, looking at the 70 million people that voted for him, looking for all the Republican leaders that are still lining up alongside President Trump, the Germans are taking a very clear-eyed view and saying the United States has changed and we need to reframe and change our relationship with them, we need to be more engaged and have a bigger part of it.

Boris Johnson in the U.K. on the other side of this, of course, is in a very desperate situation. He needs a trade deal with the United States. He was very close to President Trump before. Joe Biden's already warned him about -- that he may not get an easy and good trade deal with the United States because Boris Johnson is threatening to damage the peace process in Northern Ireland. He's saying his Brexit plans are not aimed at doing that; Joe Biden believes that they are.

So you've had Boris Johnson on the phone with President-elect Joe Biden, talking about what they have in mutual interests, security, climate change, rebuilding the economy after the pandemic, dealing with the pandemic. So yes, some leaders, a little more clear-eyed about the big picture of the United States than perhaps others.

[10:55:12]

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Nic Robertson, thank you for the international perspective as always, we appreciate it.

And thanks to all of you for being with us today. We'll see you tomorrow morning. I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. NEWSROOM with John King starts after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [11:00:00]