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Dozens of Secret Service Agents in COVID-19 Quarantine or Isolation; Interview with Former Louisville Director of Elections James Young; Interview with New York City Councilmember Mark Levine. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 13, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:30]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST, NEWSROOM: Hi there, I'm Brianna Keilar. I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

Exactly two hours from now, President Trump will speak publicly for the first time in eight days, the White House announcing he will update the country on the progress of Operation Warp Speed, which is the federal government's vaccine program.

This presidential appearance, coming as the United States breaks new coronavirus records each day under his watch. The country's positivity rate, closing in on 10 percent, 44 states are going in the absolute wrong direction here, and death numbers are going to be lagging these records by weeks, which tells us that the worst is still yet to come.

And the delusions within the White House about the dangers of this virus are now endangering the very people who protect them. A source, telling CNN that several dozen Secret Service agents are either self- isolating after contracting coronavirus or they are self-quarantining after being in contact with someone who is positive for coronavirus.

CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins has this reporting. I mean, what more do we know about how this spread?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president has been on the road an awful lot lately, leading up to the election. I believe he had about 50 rallies, Brianna, so every time the president goes somewhere, these officers go with him.

And not only do they travel with the president, a lot of times you see them go in advance of the president to scope out the location where he's going to be, or where attendees are going to be. They're there while of course he's there, any of the other attendees including the first family, the president's children, and then they often remain on the ground long after the president has gone. So it involves a lot of travel for these officers.

And so now we've learned several dozens of them are having to quarantine or isolate because they've contracted COVID-19 or they came into contact with someone who did.

And so the question is, you know, these are officers who are supposed to put their lives on the line essentially for the president to protect him, but now they're also putting their own health at risk by traveling on the road with the president for all these political rallies that he was holding in the days leading up to the election, trying to re-create what he did in 2016.

The Secret Service and the White House did not comment, but we did hear from a person familiar with how this all works, and they said that these agents are tested when they're on the road, they said they're taking the precautions and that they are not having staffing shortages due to this.

But, Brianna, several dozen people testing positive does give you an indication of the level of risk that they're at when they are just simply doing their jobs.

KEILAR: And you know, it's telling right now, we're looking at the president's legal team -- you have some reporting on this -- or teams, I might say, stepping back in a few states. What's going on there?

COLLINS: Yes, the president and his aides have continued to deny reality about what is going on with this election, but we're seeing how their legal arguments are disintegrating in front of our eyes in some places, where in Pennsylvania, as they have, you know, filed these long-shot attempts at trying to get recounts there, trying to change the outcome of the election by which votes are counted there, we're seeing one legal team representing the president's campaign in Pennsylvania stepping back from the case and withdrawing.

Then in Arizona, we've seen the Trump campaign withdraw the lawsuit that it filed there because county officials determined that the number of votes that they were disputing was about 200, Brianna. Of course that comes as Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in that state by 11,000 votes, and now CNN has projected that Biden will win the state of Arizona and flip it.

So you're seeing, as they are maintaining that this is going to turn around in their favor, that it's not being backed up by any progress being made in the legal challenges that we're seeing play out across the country.

KEILAR: Kaitlan, thank you so much for updating us on both of those elements of this story, we appreciate it. Kaitlan Collins live from the White House.

And right now, election workers in Georgia are recounting millions of ballots. They are doing it by hand. The race is incredibly tight, President-elect Joe Biden leading by 14,000 votes. CNN correspondent Amara Walker is inside a vote-counting center in Gwinnett, which is the second-largest county in Georgia.

Amara, tell us, do officials there feel confident they can meet the deadline to complete this process by midnight on Wednesday? AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, Gwinnett County officials

tell me that they will do whatever it takes to meet this deadline six days from now. Yes, it's a tall order, but I can tell you, just observing this full hand recount that's been going on since about 10:00 this morning -- and by the way, this has never been done before in Georgia -- things have been going pretty smoothly.

Just take a look, these election workers are hard at work. There's about 50 audit teams right now that I counted that are working. And this is actually supposed to be the hardest part, the most slow-going part because it's the absentee ballots, Brianna, right now that are being examined, that's the more complicated part of this because these are human-marked ballots, where the presidential choices are bubbled in.

[14:05:19]

Now, Fulton County, which is the largest county in the state of Georgia, is saying that its goal is to be done with the hand-recount by Monday. We know that there's a tiny little county in southwest Georgia called Early County, they've already finished counting -- or recounting -- the ballots there, but there was only about 5,100 ballots to be counted in this tiny little county, those results should be uploaded this afternoon.

But look, all in all, state election officials, Brianna, are saying that you know, overall, the objective is to build and boost voter confidence in the election system, in the voting machines and they're confident that on the other side of this, that it'll show that the voting machines were accurate, they were fair, we have monitors here on the ground as well from the Democratic and Republican parties, also from the Carter Center.

All of this is important, building the voter confidence. Because, as you know, the Trump campaign, the president himself has been spreading false claims of widespread voter fraud, which we have seen no evidence of here in Georgia.

And we know that his team that's leading the recount here in the state along with Georgia Republicans, they are already objecting to how this audit is being carried out, and they wrote that letter to the secretary of state yesterday before it even began -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Well, we see how it's being carried out behind you, with so many folks there in Georgia putting in these long hours and this hard work. So, Amara, thank you for bringing that to us.

Amid the divisive rhetoric about unproven allegations of fraud, the voices of poll workers, the thousands of nonpartisan volunteers who give of their time in the name of democracy, are going unheard. One former elections official says he's personally insulted by the vitriol and finds it infuriating because poll workers are being unfairly villainized when they should be hailed as heroes.

James Young is the former director of elections in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a registered Republican, and he now works as a consultant to election administrators across the country.

And thank you so much for being with us. In fact, you actually helped some counties in Georgia preparing for this election, so explain to us why it would be so difficult for widespread voter fraud to exist.

JAMES YOUNG, FORMER DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS IN LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: Well thanks for having me. For multiple reasons, I think that most voters have not been privy to until this particular election due to the circumstances.

It's difficult for most voters to understand or if they're seeing processes in real time on livestreams or they're seeing numbers that may not be complete in real time on Election Day, it's difficult for the common person, who does not have an elections background or who may not have served as a poll worker in the past to see things as they actually are. And it's really easy to misinterpret or if you have an agenda, it's very easy to interpret things the way that you are hopeful that they would be.

KEILAR: And you've kind of been giving people a glimpse into these folks who are really there serving the country. And you say that you were offended to hear a close friend imply that election administrators coordinated and allowed voter fraud.

Why do you think that that opinion has become so pervasive, including among people you know who are -- you know, they're obviously friends or family of you and they know the kind of work that you do? Why has this become so pervasive?

YOUNG: It's unfortunate. I think for many reasons that should -- or you may not need to say, but for obvious reasons I think that unfortunately the integrity of election officials, election administrators, probate (ph) judges, these are your circuit, your county clerks or your registrars across the country. Their positions are being called into question because of outcomes of elections.

These are vote-counters, these are community leaders, these are people who have careers that depend on the outcome and ensuring that you can vote -- especially this year in a COVID-free environment on Election Day. And these people should be applauded.

You -- if -- and you should try to join their team, you should try. If you ever have a question about election integrity, the best thing that you can do is reach out to that particular office or that election administrator, and ask them directly. Don't use alternative sources of media for your -- to be your source.

And these people have stories, they're real people. I've been in their office, I've seen the photos of their children on the wall. I hear, I'm six months away from a career pension and I have a hard time believing -- and I hope that's my goal is to bring this to light, that these are real people, the fix isn't in, their careers, their integrity depends on this as well. And they have a voice and a story to be told as well.

[14:10:15] KEILAR: The president, though, James, is basically saying the fix is in. So how difficult does that make it as you are trying to shed light on the reality of what really happens?

YOUNG: Well, if the fix is in, they sure didn't tell the fixers. Our election administrators across the country have a long extensive track record of things going right, and I myself, I have led by saying I am a registered Republican, I will probably lose business by saying that or more relationships of mine may be hurt by saying that.

But the truth is the truth. These people are people of integrity, and they're certainly not willing to risk going to prison over fixing an election for one candidate or the other. Party does not play a role in how an election administrator oversees the process, whether it's 10 voters or 10 million voters in a jurisdiction, the process has to be executed and integrity of the process has to be upheld, and voters should feel confident in that person.

KEILAR: Are you proud of this election, the way it was conducted?

YOUNG: I know hundreds and hundreds of election administrators, whether they're appointed or elected. I have seen the training of thousands of poll workers during a pandemic.

I think everything that could have possibly been done has been executed to the best that they could have done it with the resources -- there's never enough money to help fund elections, but they've done an incredible job and voters should be proud of the job that their elections administrators, that their poll workers have done to conclude the election.

KEILAR: Yes, in these, as you point out -- and thank you for doing so -- extraordinary times. James Young, thank you for being with us.

YOUNG: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead, Senator Tammy Duckworth will join me live to talk about the Biden transition and whether she'd be interested in a cabinet post. Will she answer that question.

But first, the raging COVID crisis in this country, almost a million new cases in the past week. I'm going to speak to a New York City councilman about the possibility they may have to shut down schools again.

And a woman in Utah loses her mother and grandfather on the same day, and she is urging people to take this seriously.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSAY WOOTTON, LOST MOTHER AND GRANDFATHER TO COVID: It's frustrating that people brush it off, that it is just the flu. Because for some people, it's not. For some people, it costs their life. It took my mom and that's irreplaceable. My kids don't get their grandma.

(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:12]

KEILAR: Another day, another coronavirus record shattered. More people than ever are in the hospital with COVID -- that is more than 67,000 people right now. More people than ever are getting infected each day, that is an eye-popping 153,000 new cases reported on Thursday alone.

The rate of positivity is so high in South Dakota and Iowa that a test is more likely to be positive than negative. And once again, the nation is reporting on average about a thousand people dying each day, with a new death projection saying even with the declining fatality rate, the U.S. could see 2,200 deaths a day by mid-January.

In Utah, the situation is so dire the head of the state hospital association there says there's no more space in intensive care units, period. No more space.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov is in Utah. She spoke to one family that is experiencing tragedy there firsthand -- Lucy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, the numbers here in Utah are bad. Hospitals are already at capacity. Yesterday, the state reported nearly 4,000 new coronavirus cases, the positivity rate surpassing 23 percent. Hospitals are bracing for the worst because it's going to take a few weeks for those new cases to translate to hospitalizations.

And you know, one of the things that sometimes gets lost in the statistics is the human impact. We spoke to one woman, Lindsay Wootton, who tragically lost her mother and grandfather last month to COVID-19. She describes the worst day of her life, when doctors broke the news that her mom wouldn't make it. Minutes later, a phone call saying that her grandpa was also going to die. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOOTTON: We called my grandpa, and I put him on speakerphone so he could talk to my mom. He called my mom kiddo, he called us all kiddo. But he said, kiddo, I'm not doing good. And she said, dad, I'm not either. And he said, Tra (ph), I'm dying. And she said, Dad, I am too. And he said, then I'll look for you in heaven.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: And you know, this tragic story is just a microcosm of what's happening across the state of Utah and the country. Lindsay's message? This isn't about politics. If something as simple as wearing one of these, wearing a mask can save a life, why wouldn't you do it? This isn't an infringement on personal liberties, it's basic human decency -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Lucy, thank you.

From the west to the east, where today New York City's mayor is preparing parents, saying that public schools could be shut down as early as Monday because of the rising coronavirus case numbers they're seeing there.

Joining me right now is New York City Councilmember Mark Levine who chairs the council's Health Committee. Councilman, thank you for coming on to talk about this. The mayor is saying that the seven-day average of test positivity right now is 2.8 percent, and that when you hit that three percent mark, that shuts down schools. So what is the city doing now and can the city really do anything now to stop that jump up to three?

[14:20:18]

MARK LEVINE (D), NEW YORK CITY COUNCILMEMBER: Yes, the rise in the positivity rate is alarming, and the rise in every measure we have is alarming. After months of stability in New York City, cases have now doubled in the last week. We just got the statewide number for today at 5,400, that's over half of what it was in New York City at the peak, in the worst days of the spring.

So this is serious, and it's being driven by small social gatherings at home, being driven by people traveling to and from other states, it's being driven by people going back into office spaces, and it's being driven by indoor dining, which resumed in a limited level in September.

We have to act immediately on every one of these fronts, or we're going to get out of control spread in New York City with real dire consequences.

KEILAR: And so there's also this warning about schools, which are very close to having to shut.

LEVINE: Yes.

KEILAR: This is happening on the same day there's a new 10:00 p.m. curfew going into effect. This would close in-person service in all bars, restaurants and gyms until 5:00 a.m. You have a lot of restaurant owners who are saying they can't take much more. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERRY MORRIS, RESTAURANT OWNER: As you gradually move forward and you think you see some light at the end of the tunnel, you only find out that the chair's out from underneath you and you're one step forward and three steps back.

STEPHEN OLIVER, RESTAURANT OWNER: This is going to hurt. You know, especially on a Saturday night, when we're telling people at 8:00, 8:30 that they have to be out the door by 10:00.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: All right, I'm sure that you are getting calls like that from your constituents. What are you telling them?

LEVINE: Yes. Well, this is real hardship for restaurant owners. I talk to business owners in my district every day in northern Manhattan who are suffering. They're hanging on by a thread now, and this will be a serious blow.

But honestly, we have no choice. We need to go further than a curfew, we need to hit pause on indoor dining, Brianna, because this is a known venue of spread. People who are not able to wear a mask while they're eating, they're in close contact, they're talking, they're laughing, this has been documented around the world to be highly risky for spread of coronavirus.

And we have to take this step now to a full pause -- not just an evening pause, a full pause to stop this virus, which is spreading rapidly. Or we'll need more serious action in the weeks to come -- we don't want that. But the business owners are suffering, and government has an obligation to help them now with direct financial assistance. Essentially, we need to pay them to close.

The federal government should be there, we should have a stimulus package now even in this lame duck session. And if that doesn't happen the city and state have to find the money even if it means borrowing, to support these struggling business owners. Because public health is at stake and doing nothing now is not an option.

KEILAR: Councilmember, you have a lot ahead of you. We appreciate you coming on to talk about it.

LEVINE: Thank you so much, Brianna. We've gotten through this once before in New York, and we'll do it again.

KEILAR: I have no doubt, sir, thank you.

It has been 10 days since the election, and six days since CNN called the race for President-elect Joe Biden. There are still two states uncalled until now. Stand by for a CNN projection.

CNN can now project Joe Biden has won the state of Georgia, flipping the state red -- or flipping the red state blue, I should say. Donald Trump has won the state of North Carolina, a major, major development in this historic election.

I want to go to David Chalian. David, take us through this.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, the final two states, we were able to project, Brianna, because the counties in those states are certifying their county vote totals and sending them into the state.

We know in Georgia that there's a hand recount under way, but Joe Biden is the winner of Georgia, 14,152 votes ahead of Donald Trump, 49.5 percent to 49.2 percent. No Democrat has won Georgia since 1992. This is a huge victory for the Democrats, a state they've long eyed like a 10-year-long project to flip this red state blue.

And Joe Biden did it with explosive growth in the Atlanta suburban area for the Democratic coalition, big turnout among African- Americans, among women, this is a big prize for the Democrats.

And then you noted in North Carolina, Donald Trump is going to hang onto North Carolina, 73,602 votes ahead of Joe Biden, pretty substantial lead, 50 percent to 48.6 percent. Again, we're seeing a majority of the counties reporting in and certifying their vote totals.

[14:25:05]

There is not enough outstanding vote for Joe Biden to come close to overtaking Donald Trump, and therefore Donald Trump is going to hang onto North Carolina and add its 15 electoral votes to his electoral total.

That brings us to Joe Biden at 306 electoral votes, Donald Trump at 232 electoral votes. That is a substantial Electoral College victory for Joe Biden. In fact, so substantial it's precisely the kind of victory that Donald Trump labeled a landslide for himself four years ago because that's how many electoral votes he had, 306, and that is what Joe Biden has.

And now you've seen the entire map color in red and blue, this is your new map of American politics and will set the table for the 2024 presidential election -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. I mean, this is a big moment, David.

I want to bring in Dana Bash to talk with us about this. And you know, you listen to that, what he's -- 306 electoral votes, that, Dana, is what Trump won by, which he called a landslide. Yet at this point in time he has not conceded the race.

And we kind of see the nation as far as acknowledging this election, they're operating on two tracks. One is the one David just laid out, that's -- let's call it the reality track. And then the other one is the track that Donald Trump and many of his supporters -- and certainly a lot of people who voted for him -- are operating on.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And the question is whether or not that second track of fantasyland is going to come back to reality any time soon. And I call it fantasyland not to be glib, but because of what David just laid out in a way that only David Chalian can do.

But just to even dig a little deeper, look at states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. Michigan, Donald Trump won by 10,074 votes. Right now, Joe Biden is ahead in that state by about 150,000 votes. So that's A.

B, Pennsylvania right now, Joe Biden is ahead by more than 50,000 votes. Donald Trump won by 44,000 votes.

And we can keep going on and on and on. Never mind the major difference right now, which is Joe Biden flipping Arizona, which has not gone Democratic since Bill Clinton, which was a blip because he had the help of Ross Perot taking away Georg H.W. Bush's votes.

And then go to Georgia, which -- I mean, this is a moment. This is a moment as David said, that Democrats have been trying to do for years and years and years. The demographic shift has been real, and has been robust.

But it's not just that, it is people like Stacey Abrams, who has had a 10-year plan to very deliberately and strategically get voters who she -- and others who worked with her knew were potential to get out and actually vote. Register them, make sure that they are engaged in order to change Georgia from red to blue. And in 2020 it was successful.

And I just keep thinking about John Lewis, who passed away earlier this year, who represented Atlanta, who is probably looking down on this and saying, you know, this is what I fought for, and right now it looks like it came to fruition.

KEILAR: Yes, it is something to think about, him sort of if he had been able to experience a moment and what it would have meant for him and for his legacy.

This is -- look, when we look -- I mean that count there for the popular vote, Dana, I know it took us days to kind of get here, to see exactly what it would be. But it's big, this is a big win.

BASH: That's right. I mean, the popular vote, as we all know, doesn't give anybody the presidency, that's not how it works, it works through the Electoral College, which is why we keep focusing on these uncalled states. And that number there, 306 right now by CNN's count, for electoral votes.

But you know, the popular vote is a big thing. It gives everybody a sense of the breadth of support for each of the candidates. And you're right, Joe Biden has now really maybe last week already surpassed any other candidate before him for president in terms of the popular vote support. That's a huge thing.

[14:29:44]

On the flip side, one of the reasons I'm told by people around Donald Trump that he is going to give for -- once we actually hear from him -- for you know, keep on keeping on and fighting, is because of the 72 million people who voted for him.