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G20 Leaders Agree To Endorse 15 Percent Global Minimum Tax; New Details On Documents Trump Doesn't Want Jan. 6 Committee To See; FDA Authorizes Pfizer Vaccine For Kids Age 5 To 11; Biden Meets With European Allies On Iran Nuclear Deal Talks; McAuliffe, Youngkin Make Last Pitches As Election Day Nears. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired October 30, 2021 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:13]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us on this cross-continental broadcast.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta, joined by my colleague Chris Cuomo live from Rome.

And we begin this hour with breaking news.

Right now President Biden is meeting with European leaders on the next steps in negotiations with Iran in hopes of revitalizing the Iranian nuclear deal which the U.S. Withdrew from in 2018. It's one of several key discussions taking place today at the G20 summit in Rome.

President Biden arriving there this morning, posing for the traditional sort of class photo. World leaders were joined on stage by first responders on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, you see it right there. COVID one of the top issues facing the G20 leaders.

Several other critical agenda items: President Biden's proposal for a global minimum tax on multinational corporations, which now we're learning has the endorsement of the G20 as well as the supply chain and climate change crises.

For more now, let's go to Rome. CNN's Chris Cuomo is there heading our coverage from there. Chris, what do you have?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Fred, it's a great pleasure. Thank you. I want to bring in CNN'S chief international editor Nic Robertson and CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. We also have senior political commentator David Axelrod in the mix.

Now let's start inside, outside, ok. So very interesting that the president of the United States comes here and in moments we hear that there's some consensus on a 15 percent minimum tax among a lot of people who don't know whether to trust him, whether or not they have the same interests, or the same timing. And yet at home he can't get anything like that, Kaitlan. How is that playing in the White House? KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And he had set a

standard for himself that coming here without an agreement from Democrats on his domestic agenda was going to affect him in these meetings with world leaders.

That's something that critics of the White House said or other people. House Speaker Pelosi said that, President Biden said that and his top aides were saying that.

And so, of course, he did come here without that agreement but he is working on this global minimum tax, which is what White House officials say is going to be probably the main takeaway from this G20 summit.

A very important Iran meeting is happening right now, but this is going to be something that they think can actually be really significant if they can prevent this race to the bottom from corporations of trying to move their profits overseas, trying to go to places with friendlier taxes. They think that can be something the United States brings in tens of billions of dollars and could potentially help with the president's domestic agenda.

So we'll see, of course, how that actually works out when he gets back to Washington. But it is notable that he had something he could get done here while he's struggling with a similar issue at home.

CUOMO: Look, it's good just to have a sense of coordination. Enforcement on something like that would be very difficult. It always is. But a good start.

Let me jump to Axe -- David Axelrod. And in terms of -- you know, as Kaitlan rightly points out, the concern was he's going to come here looking weak because he couldn't get it at home. Now could there be a reciprocal advantage? Meaning that because he was able to get something here with all these allies, might that kind of juice his dynamic with his own party back at home, Axe?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Maybe so. I mean I don't think -- I think it's more the other way around. I was really struck by a quote in the paper this morning by the -- Rasmussen, the former prime minister of Denmark who was the leader of NATO in the past, who said we're all watching Virginia. We're all watching Virginia for clues as to what's going to happen in the U.S. because there's doubts about -- you know, Biden came and said America's back at the last -- at the last meeting.

And now people are wondering how long will he be here? And how long will he have the power to follow through on his commitments and will Donald Trump be back in four years?

So I think the world is paying a lot of attention to American politics. I don't know how much attention Americans are paying to these meetings.

WHITFIELD: All right, everybody. You're now talking to me, Fredricka, here in Atlanta because we just lost our signal from Chris. So I do want to continue to ask you, David. It's also an issue of who is not there in Rome during this G20. China and Russia are not present. How significant is that?

AXELROD: Well, I'll tell you one place where it's significant. The president's meeting this morning with the leaders of Germany, France, and Great Britain to talk about the Iran nuclear agreement. The other two parties to that -- or two of the other parties to that are China and Russia, the permanent members of the security council at the U.N.

[11:04:51]

AXELROD: And so they're trying to chart a path forward in negotiations with Iran, and they're not there. It also is an opportunity, Fred, for Biden though, to be the focus of attention at these G20 meetings.

And I think they want to take full advantage of that. This global minimum tax on corporations, is one of the elements of that.

He wants to get something done on the pandemic and global action on pandemics. He wants to get something done on climate.

So he wants to be pushing those, and he wants to come away as showing American leadership there. And it's easier when you're not competing with others. That's a whole another sideshow when those leaders are there. So I think there's some advantages to that.

But on this one issue of Iran, they're going to need the others in order to chart a way forward.

WHITFIELD: Russia is chiming in via videoconference in some capacity, so that's still, you know, an element and could present some element of surprise, too for that --

AXELROD: Absolutely. Absolutely

WHITFIELD: -- for that matter.

So let's talk about security. Obviously very tight, always is, at a summit of this magnitude. We've already seen that there have been protests in Rome. Climate crisis is on the minds of so many and even driving some of the passion at some of the demonstrations.

So the U.N. Cop 26 summit, you know, just days away. What does the White House hope to achieve this weekend to address climate change, particularly when climate change, climate crises provisions are part of the president's agenda, which are not moving at all on Capitol Hill?

AXELROD: I expect that they'll probably move forward, you know, in the coming days on this. They didn't get it done in time for him to have it in hand when he arrived. And I think that they're going to have to spend some time explaining that these things are actually going to happen, that the climate provisions in this legislation, both pieces of legislation are going to move forward. But it's really important for the success of climate action to get everybody in the world on board. And certainly Biden wants to lead on that by presenting the things that he's going to do.

But I think there is a sense, Fred, that we're at a tipping point on this issue. And that if we don't move in concert and move together -- because after all, it is a global climate. It's not an American climate.

WHITFIELD: That's right.

AXELROD: If we don't move in concert, we're not going to get to where we need to go and the damage will be irreversible.

How often are you starting your broadcast talking about some weather catastrophe, some, you know, really devastating hurricane or flood or wildfire?

WHITFIELD: Which we're already seeing right now in the mid-Atlantic, in fact, you know. I mean while you're coming to us from Michigan, you're familiar with the Washington, D.C. area already, that kind of severe water is there right now.

AXELROD: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Hey, David -- sorry to interrupt but you know, we're back with company now --

AXELROD: Oh great.

WHITFIELD: -- Chris Cuomo and Kaitlan Collins and Nic Robertson back with us in Rome. Still looking divine there. All right.

So you guys, take it away. I'll jump in whenever you need me again.

CUOMO: Well, I have to say, Fred, it's great they automatically cut away from us because this huge fight broke out here on set. I don't know what I said, but the next thing I knew, Kaitlan had me pushed up against the wall. Nic was begging her to not hurt me.

It was a little weird, but now everybody is ok. Figured it out and everybody is in their own lane.

WHITFIELD: Family dinners can be very passionate and emotionally driven all the time.

CUOMO: I can't turn my head that well this way, but I'll be ok. I'll be ok and it's all forgiven.

Now, we were talking about the interesting aspect of the dynamic here to play off of Axelrod. Axelrod was saying that people are saying we're going to watch Virginia. Why? Because this is about can we trust America? What is America about? Both of you honestly did make great points about why this matters inside out.

All right. So let's do it again in reverse that to the United States, the Iran deal matters, and they understand the White House that there's pressure on them about can they really stick.

COLLINS: Yes, and the bigger question about whether or not they can trust America is not necessarily that they don't trust President Biden or they don't think he'll keep his word. It's that the Trump presidency really shook a lot of these world leaders because -- they were shaken by it because they saw how quickly things can change and how the United States' word may only be good for four years or one presidential term.

And so I think that is the concern is that when they say they're watching Virginia, of course, Virginia -- the governor's race is on Tuesday is seen as a bellwether for what's going to happen in 2022, potentially after that what happens to Biden's presidency.

He said himself this week, that his presidency could be on the line when it comes to getting his agenda passed. And so they're watching to see what are the signs in America.

Are Republicans about to be back in power? What is the next president going to be like. And I think that is what they mean by that when they say they're watching Virginia.

[11:09:59]

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think there's another layer to this as well from the international perspective. I hear this a lot in Europe that Biden was expected to be the reset.

Whatever happens in Virginia, there's still this level of disappointment in President Biden, these decades in foreign policy. I think there was a sense from international partners that when he came to the stage, things would settle down.

But Afghanistan, the fallout with the French over the submarine deal -- both of those, I think, you know, the expectations were high. The bar was low. But the disappointment has been steep.

So I think you got to add that in. While they watch Virginia, there's also this already recalibration on Biden himself.

CUOMO: A little bit of a blindness to these obvious points for you two and what you're hearing from your sources by the Democrats. Right. The Democrats, we never hear them talk about, you know, when I say they, you don't hear Pelosi, Schumer, or Jayapal now who you really do have to give Pramila Jayapal a platform, right, that we know this could be bad for Biden abroad.

We know that we have to -- they never say that. And they never talk about how Virginia, Kaitlan, is going to be probably the first test on how they are perceived by the masses because you have almost 50 percent of right and left in Virginia say their vote is not about Younkin on the right or McAuliffe, but about Biden or Trump.

COLLINS: Right. And it's how Republican candidates in the future can channel Trump and try to bring his base in while still keeping an arm's length distance from him, which Younkin has tried to do. I do think what you're saying is absolutely right that Pelosi and other Democrats like this aren't saying this publicly. But she is warning her caucus privately about it and she's saying that she did not want the caucus to embarrass President Biden when he came here overseas by voting down his agenda. She talks about what this moment means.

The president saying that the prestige of the United States is on the line when it comes to this and getting this agenda passed. And of course, they did not pass that before he left in time.

And so now they're changing it. You're hearing a different message from them. They're saying these world leaders understand domestic politics. They understand that this is going on. They're sophisticated world leaders, but just a few days ago they were warning about what kind of message and context and back drop there would be for President Biden if he came here without that agenda.

CUOMO: Impact of who is not present, Russia says that Putin is going to partake by Zoom or whatever. China not here. A little bit of a nod to, hey, we take COVID very seriously. Is that what it's really about? And what does it mean that they're not here?

ROBERTSON: I think it's big. I think the fact that they're not here shows us that the internationally joined-up world order of major countries coming together to work for the betterment of the planet is not working so well.

Yes, of course, Putin and Biden have big COVID issues at home. Putin in particular, his speech this morning by remote from Moscow to the summit here in Rome was about vaccines, about how well Russia's doing producing vaccines and there should be a better sort of vaccine transparency passport system around the world. Ok, set that to one side.

But the real message here is, he doesn't want to come right now, neither does Xi Jinping. Quite why would they do this. They both feel they're going to take too much heat, particularly Xi Jinping at COP26 that follows this, the climate summit.

but when we look in retrospect in history, we're going to see this is a moment where, you know, the G20 is the opportunity for these major countries to come together and work together. And this is a signal that that's not happening.

And the United States is a strong standard bearer to make that happen in the world and draw people to that flag to work together. That call is not so loud, and they're ignoring it.

We're seeing, you know, there is already this dynamic, this U.S./China dynamic emerging, this division, this global division, but I think we're seeing something -- we're seeing something of a of a breakdown.

COLLINS: And that's the other thing is that Biden's message at the G7 was America is back, I'm not Trump, and democracy works. And I think all of those are being challenged not the Trump sense to a degree but he was irked by the French comparing him, saying he was adopting Trump-like tactics with the way submarine deal went down.

But of course, America is back, they're questioning, is it really back and then the chaotic and deadly Afghanistan exit and also saying democracy still works. They're looking at the chaos back home over his agenda, his own party is divided over how to put that agenda in place. And I think the White House realizes how that could affect him trying to use that message while he's here.

CUOMO: Let's get a quick word from Axelrod because we have him here. David, thank you very much. What is your take on the awareness level of the existential game afoot for Democrats? You know, obviously they didn't want to talk about the Afghanistan exit as anything that big of a deal. They thought it was overly harsh on Biden. That it was really Trump who got them into it, and that they don't see this Virginia test, at least outwardly, as being about them?

[11:14:53]

AXELROD: Well look, first of all, I do think that there are a lot of Democrats who did actually criticize the exit from Afghanistan. And you know, there was a bipartisan discomfort and anger about how -- about how that came down.

And I do -- you know, Kaitlan was exactly right. The whole reason that Pelosi had Biden come down to the Capitol right before he left for Europe was to make this a forcing issue, that this trip was so important, and that American prestige was on the line.

As for Virginia, you know, the vice president was in Virginia last night, and her message was this is going to tell -- this is going to be read as a foretelling of what will happen in 2022 and 2024. She was doing that because this is a close election and they're worried about Democrats coming out to vote.

And so she was really raising the stakes. The issue with that is if the election goes the wrong way for Terry McAuliffe in Virginia and Younkin wins, everybody is going to pull up that video and say, well, what now? So there's a lot at stake on Tuesday.

CUOMO: All right, David. I appreciate you. Thank you very much -- David Axelrod, Nic Robertson, Kaitlan Collins, appreciate it.

Fred, back to you in the studio. We'll be here if you need us.

WHITFIELD: Ok. We'll be calling upon you. Thank you so much, Chris and company.

All right. Still ahead, White House call logs, aides notes, speech drafts -- those are just some of the documents former President Trump wants hidden from the January 6th investigation. Details from a court filing, next.

Plus, parents are now one step closer to getting their young kids vaccinated against COVID, and it could happen as soon as next week. Much more on that straight ahead.

[11:16:39]

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WHITFIELD: Overnight, the U.S. House told a federal court that Donald Trump has no legal right to shield documents from the January 6th investigation under executive privilege.

And now we're learning more about just what documents the former president is trying to conceal. More than 700 pages of phone records, visitor logs, daily calendars, and staffers' personal memos -- all dealing with the events of that day.

Katelyn Polantz is with us now to help unpack all of this. So Katelyn, you know, what is in these papers being held by the National Archives?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Fred, until a little after midnight last night, we didn't actually know what documentation the White House had made up to January 6th and on January 6th. Now we do know, and that's because the National Archives is not necessarily releasing these documents, that's because Donald Trump is contesting them. He wants to keep them secret.

But what the archives is doing is they're saying this is what we have from the Trump presidency, and it is quite a list. It's more than 700 pages from Trump's closest advisers from their records.

It's briefing memos, talking points, White House visitor logs and call records, 30 pages of Trump's daily schedule. There's even five handwritten pages from chief of staff Mark Meadows about January 6th and the election count, the election certification.

Now these are documents that Trump desperately has wanted to keep secret. He has filed a lawsuit in court to stop the Archives from turning them over to Congress. The Archives clearly wants to turn these over.

The Biden administration believes that they should not be kept secret, that there is an extraordinary need for the country to see these and the House clearly wants to see them as quickly as possible for their own probe.

This access issue is all going to come to a head this week in court when a judge has a hearing over it, and there may be more discussion about what is in these records and why they are so important for this house investigation.

WHITFIELD: And CNN's "KFile" team also uncovered a radio interview with one of Trump's former attorneys named John Eastman, who was pushing the vice president to overturn the election. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP CHIEF ADVISER: Are we to assume that this is going to be a climactic battle that's going to take place this week about the very question of the constitutionality of the Electoral Count Act of 1877? JOHN EASTMAN, FORMER TRUMP LAWYER: I think a lot of that depends on

the courage and the spine of the individuals involved.

BANNON: when you just said the courage and the spine, are you talking on the other side of the football. Would you be -- would you be -- that'd be a nice way to say a guy names Mike -- vice president Mike Pence?

EASTMAN: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So what else do we know about the words from this former attorney Eastman?

POLANTZ: So John Eastman was an attorney that was advising Trump up to January 6th and had put together a proposal that he previously had characterized as sort of a weaker option that Pence could choose not to certify the election.

Now, this information that the KFile has uncovered, this interview with Steve Bannon on his -- Steve Bannon's podcast on January 2nd, that's a much more direct statement from Eastman than we've heard before about what he was advising Pence.

And on top of that, the "Washington Post" last night also released a story where they had obtained a memo from Eastman, or I'm sorry -- an email from Eastman to Mike Pence's lawyer urging him even during and after the riot not to certify the electoral college and even blaming him for the siege.

This is what he had wrote according to the email obtained by the "Washington Post". "The siege is because you and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened."

Now, this taken together just puts John Eastman, this lawyer that was advising Trump, as a central figure that the house is almost certainly still going to want to talk to, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Katelyn Polantz, thanks so much for that.

All right. Coming up, millions of young children could get the COVID vaccine as soon as next week. We'll tell you what has to happen before kids 5 to 11 can get the shots.

[11:24:53]

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WHITFIELD: All right. Some major news for parents and kids. The FDA has granted emergency use authorization for Pfizer's COVID vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. Pfizer says its data shows the vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in preventing symptomatic COVID infection in that age group.

A CDC advisory panel will review the data on Tuesday and soon after, CDC director Rochelle Walensky will make the final decision.

With us now Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine. So good to see you, Doctor.

[11:29:56]

WHITFIELD: So in your view, what will be the biggest immediate impact of this decision?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, the biggest impact will be protecting children who are in school and reducing the likelihood that they're going to go to the hospital or get very sick or get long COVID.

I think this is the narrative that's not been sufficiently emphasized is how devastating this delta variant has been across the southern states over the summer.

You know, we've had 8,300 hospitalizations of kids 5 to 11. A third of them in the intensive care unit. Many with that multisystem inflammatory syndrome of in children. We've had 170 deaths. We've filled up pediatric hospitals, children's hospitals, even pediatric ICUs, which I had never seen before.

And then all the long COVID, maybe as much as 14 percent of kids getting long COVID after more than 15 months. Those numbers are not out there. All we're hearing about are the risks of the vaccine which are quite modest.

And I think that's going to be the hard part, I think, over the next few weeks because we only have about one-third of parents saying they're going to accept COVID vaccines for their kids.

WHITFIELD: Right. In fact, let me give you a little bit more information on that. You know, sometimes these risks that you're talking about are really influencing the decision of so many parents.

The Kaiser Foundation indicated through this polling that shows about a third of parents want to take a wait-and-see approach to vaccinations for their kids. Another third are saying they won't vaccinate at all. So what do you say to either of those groups to kind of allay their fears?

DR. HOTEZ: It's really important. It's going to be an education process, I think, of really providing them with accurate health information. Some of those numbers know how devastating COVID is for young kids because the narrative out there is that it exclusively affects older individuals, which is absolutely not true.

And then what the real risks are of myocarditis, which is the one that seems to be scaring parents, that it's still quite modest. We're looking at basically 1 per 10,000 that we've seen so far in young adults. And we think, you know, it could be that with young kids or less because we're giving -- we're reducing the amount of mRNA in the vaccines for kids. So all of that information needs to kind of be put together, I think, in a package. And we need to have the bandwidth, because the disinformation is dominating the Internet right now.

WHITFIELD: Do you feel like people should be more afraid of their children actually getting COVID than any kind of potential side effects that could come with a vaccination?

Well, that's the bottom line, right? I mean, I witnessed it first hand being down here in Texas, seeing what's happened with kids in our Texas children's hospital. But pediatric hospitals all across the south, how overwhelmed the hospitals were with COVID-19 over the summer. We just can't afford to let that happen again.

And what I'm worried about, Fred, is as we go into the Thanksgiving holiday, kids are going to be with a lot of other individuals. I think we're going to see another surge after Thanksgiving. And kids are going to get swept up in the firestorm again just like they did here in the south over the summer.

WHITFIELD: So talk to me about why there are many parents who remain reticent because they say, well, look, my kid is healthy. If they get COVID, then they will have the protection, you know, of those antibodies. And If we can just get through any illness and get those antibodies, then they're protected, they won't need a vaccine.

DR. HOTEZ: Well, you know again, we've seen so many kids get sick. And a lot of it -- there's a lot of regional variation, I think we're going to see that as well.

So in the northeast where over 75 percent of the adolescents had been vaccinated, I think those parents who also have younger kids at home will likely vaccinate them.

But you know, here in the southern states where we're looking at 25 percent, 30 percent of adolescents being vaccinated, those same parents are going to hold back on vaccinating their young children as well. So I think you're going to see enormous regional variation as a consequence.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Peter Hotez, always good to see you. Thank you so much. Continue to be well.

DR. HOTEZ: Thank you, you too.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, President Biden is expected to meet with world leaders to discuss Iran's nuclear program. We'll go back live to Rome for the G20 summit right after this.

[11:34:19]

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CUOMO: Welcome back to the G20 summit in Roma. I'm Chris Cuomo.

You know, it is a time of questioning trust right now, even within the G20. Forget about America for one second. Remember, the G20 was born in 1999 as an extension of the G7 because they believed you needed to have more influence, you needed to have more players.

And now they are questioning whether or not 20 is enough, whether or not this organization is doing what it meant to do. Now, you have to build all that into the instability or the questions about stability that are surrounding the United States with its new president, President Biden.

[11:39:42]

CUOMO: So he's come here, had a great meeting with the Pope, yukked it up, met with the French president which we'll talk about how he mended. And now he is starting to make the rounds -- Germany, France, the United Kingdom -- talking about the nuclear program in Iran and what can be done. A trilateral meeting, pivotal time.

Iran is continuing to do what it does worst, which is move towards nuclear capabilities, thumbing its nose at the international committee, and the only device we had to keep them in check is now gone.

Biden trying to revive it, the 2015 nuclear deal that former President Trump pulled out of in 2018. The U.S. now considering penalties on Iran for not complying.

So let's bring in Nic Robertson, Kaitlan Collins and yes, David Axelrod back to discuss all this. So let's start with the worldview on this, Nic. Does the totality of influence in the g20 -- because Merkel wanted these talks. Merkel -- Angela Merkel, who is outgoing power in Germany, she wanted to put this on the table.

Is there appetite and belief that you can do something with and to Iran again?

ROBERTSON: There is belief that you're not going to get to where you want to with Iran. And we've just got a joint declaration coming out of that meeting President Biden has had with Merkel, Macron, and Boris Johnson saying that all the countries commit to not allowing Iran to get nuclear weapons, either manufacturing them or essentially purchasing them. So yes, there is a belief that you need the United States in that deal and that the world can do something, align together to stop Iran continuing to go down the path that it's on.

I think the bottom paragraphs in that statement are the interesting ones, because they hold the carrots for Iran here, if you will, commenting on the support from Gulf partners that if sanctions are lifted that they would participate in essentially, you know, rebuilding some economic ties that are prevented by the sanction with Iran.

So those are the carrots for Iran right now. But the sub-line after that is the kicker for Iran because it says the countries are determined that they should continue with a broader set of packages against Iran that go beyond the deal -- ballistic missiles and destabilizing the region. COLLINS: Yes.

And that's why summits like these are so critical, especially for a U.S. president who has just taken took office ten months ago because it's often these face-to-face interactions, these meetings where they are all huddling in the same room where you can actually make progress and talk about where you really stand.

Because oftentimes these calls with world leaders, staff is on the calls, they're doing translations, you have talking points, certain list that you need to get there.

And this is why officials said it was so critical for President Biden to get in the room with these leaders, so they can actually hash out where they are, where they stand where they would like to go.

And so the White House is really excited about this summit for that in particular. And we should remind people, they have not had a G20 summit in two years. This is the first one since COVID-19 -- the COVID-19 pandemic.

And so also with the absence of China and Russia here, the White House is saying that President Biden is going to try to use that to his advantage, work the room, try to push his priorities, because it's often in moments like these where you can really get that done.

CUOMO: So let's talk about what will certainly be a big deal back home and what it meant here. So the United States president meets with the French president, and absolutely owns a mistake -- kind of threw his team under the bus.

But said with the submarine deal we handled it in a clumsy way -- was that planned going into it? You know, did you get a heads-up from the White House that he is going to apologize, basically, the president?

COLLINS: I was surprised by how candid the president was there, especially in front of cameras in the room. Maybe if cameras weren't in the room, of course, they were going to acknowledge that this did not go the way that they wanted it to.

But with cameras in front of them President Biden said, yes, this was a clumsy way that we handled this. There should've been greater consultation with the French. He said he genuinely did not know, that's what you mean by throwing them under the bus.

He said he genuinely did not know that the French were so unaware that they were cutting this deal with the Australians and with the U.K. to give them these nuclear-powered submarines, of course, cutting off that French deal with the Australians to give them the diesel-powered submarines, a multi-billion dollar deal.

And he was pretty frank about it and he talked about how important France is as an ally. He said -- you know, this isn't worth damaging the friendship because we have celebrated too much together, we've suffered too much together, basically the United States and France have been through too much together for this to be what severs that relationship.

And I thought it was really candid. And you saw Macron's face --

ROBERTSON: Yes. It lit up.

COLLINS: -- as he was sitting there. And he himself said that they need to talk about what's ahead and not what has happened in the last few weeks.

CUOMO: You know, my team Roselee and Izzy, my EP and my producer, they saw Macron on the street last night. Said he looked like he was having a good time walking around. So maybe they mended fences.

Now Axe, look, you know that this is an easy opportunity for the right to do something dissimilar to what happened to President Obama when you were with him and he went out and gave that big speech in Cairo and seems to be, you know, making a very obvious point to the rest of the world, which is, you know, the United States has to pick up its game.

[11:44:51]

CUOMO: The right killed him for being an apologist to terrorists all around the world. We haven't heard any response from the right yet about what Biden said in being clumsy in the deal with the French. But what's the plus/minus on that tactic?

AXELROD: Well, you probably get beaten up a little less for apologizing to the French. But the point -- you have to imagine throwing his aide under the bus, Chris. There were others under the bus.

He also said I thought you had been informed about the status of your own deal. And that was really throwing the Australians under the bus and maybe the Brits a little bit because what he was saying was, I thought you had been told that that deal wasn't going to go forward. So it wasn't only on his aides.

Look, I think the right is going to be more focused on these talks about Iran. The forcing mechanism for this discussion that Merkel wanted is that the Iranians have agreed to return to negotiations or at least talks, I should say, next month.

And they wanted to get their strategy together as to how they're going to approach it, whether there should be more sanctions, whether there should not. Apparently they have agreed that there may be.

But you know, since Trump pulled out of that agreement, the Iranians have proceeded at pace restoring their numeral program. They have been in compliance. They're not anymore, and time is a-wasting here as they make progress.

So there's a sense of urgency about that, and that is something that's going to be a big focus of the right, how he handles that particular matter.

And so I think a lot of attention will be paid to the language and the news coming out of this particular meeting.

CUOMO: Axe, quick follow. Why do they have the high ground? Why isn't the angle on this, boy, was Trump leaving the Iran deal a huge mistake?

(CROSSTALK)

AXELROD: No, it should be. It should be. You know, Trump wanted to cancel every agreement that Barack Obama signed. I mean this is one of the problems generally because people feel like if we sign an agreement with America and Trump comes back or some Trump-like figure comes back, does that mean those go by the boards?

But yes Iran was in compliance. We had a regime of inspectors, global inspectors in Iran and now they are making big progress with greater momentum all the time. So this is something that, you know, Democrats should take the offensive on. This happened because Trump withdrew from the deal. The other European partners did not. But obviously America is a big player here and American sanctions are really important.

So yes. No, I agree with you, Chris. I think this was a blunder on the part of Trump, not politically at home, which is, of course, the lens with which he -- through which he saw everything, but in terms of actually impacting on Iran.

The one thing is, the critics said expand -- this was too narrow an agreement, it should go to their adventurism in the region to missiles and so on. It's interesting that in this statement that these leaders agreed with that.

And that's going to make a difficult negotiation because Iran just elected a new hardline leader there. So we'll see how this goes. It's a very complicated issue.

CUOMO: Ok. All right. Last word?

ROBERTSON: Just one quick point. You're talking about the flip-flop between presidents, between Trump -- or Obama, Trump, Biden on this Iran deal.

Look at the messaging here from the German chancellor. Angela Merkel, she's brough here expected to be replacement, Olaf Scholz to the summit. Not even from the same party as her but that's demonstrating continuity of purpose and policy and intent from the Germans.

That's how I think a lot of countries would hope that the United States would act, that you would have this continuity and here we are debating the lack of it and the consequences thus.

CUOMO: Nic, appreciate it. Kaitlan Collins, always a pleasure. David Axelrod, we'll talk to you soon.

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: Ok, gang. Thank you so much. We'll check back with you there in Rome.

All right. Still ahead for us. It is the final stretch in the race for Virginia's governor. Right now it's a dead heat, and both candidates are out making their final pitches to voters before election day.

We're live from Virginia next.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Moment ago, right there, Vice President Kamala Harris getting her booster shot for the coronavirus at the White House right there. Harris received the Moderna vaccine.

All right. It is the final day for early voting in Virginia, and candidates for governor are making their last pitches in very different ways.

CNN's Dan Merica joining us right now. So Dan, more than one million votes have been cast early in this very tight race.

DAN MERICA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. It's a huge day in this race. This is the last day of early voting, as you know, and all of the candidates are out pushing folks to the polls, urging them to get out early.

I actually caught up with Terry McAuliffe at a sports bar behind me. He was doing a little OTR stop with a bunch of folks. And we talked about the fact that earlier in the day Dana Bash asked Glenn Younkin whether Donald Trump, the rally that Donald Trump is having, the tele- rally, you know phone-in to a rally whether Younkin will join Trump for that rally. He told Dana Bash no.

I asked McAuliffe if that was a mistake, if he wished that Younkin was dialing in as well. Take a listen to what he said to me especially about whether Trump has been a factor in this race.

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TERRY MCAULIFFE (D), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: No. I mean, Trump is not liked here in the commonwealth of Virginia. People remember Charlottesville when he failed us that day, horrible day, when he said there were fine people on both sides.

And that was a tragic day. We lost Heather Heyer (ph). I lost state troopers, with my pilot and member of my security detail. And Donald Trump said there were good people on both sides.

But people want to be lifted up. Trump, his hate and division, he wants to run again in 2024. I think he wants to use this as a launchpad for that. That's pretty clear.

That's why he's endorsed Younkin seven or eight times -- seven or eight times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MERICA: Fred, I have to stress this is so -- such a shift for McAuliffe who has made Trump so much part of the race. Mentioning him arguably more than any other political figure.

So early in that gaggle, he said that this race is not about Trump. His four months, five months of campaigning has very much been about Trump. That is a significant shift here in the Virginia race. And we're going to see if he continues to say that, continues to claim that throughout the day here in Virginia beach and around the Tidewater region, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll see whose voices are most influential, just days away. Dan Merica, thank you so much.

And don't miss election night in America. Special live coverage starts Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

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