Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Holds Arizona Rallies as He Unleashes Attacks Fauci: "People are Tired of Hearing Fauci and All These Idiots"; Trump Holds Second Rally in AZ, State is Key to Trump Victory; Trump Says He's Going to Win, Admits He "Wouldn't have Said That Three Week Ago". Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 19, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, the President tearing into Dr. Anthony Fauci in a whole new way calling him names. Even as one of the nation's top experts warns the United States is about to face the darkest period of the pandemic. Why is Trump's suddenly so focused on making Fauci the fall guy?
Plus, Biden and Trump are about to face off in their final debate. Team Trump now crying foul and demanding changes, so what do they want and will it fly with team Biden?
And five-time Grammy Award artist Christopher Cross is speaking out, best known for his hits like Sailing and The Best That You Can Do, on how COVID temporarily paralyzed him nearly killed him. Christopher Cross is my guest. Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the President has a boogeyman for his coronavirus failure, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Trump calling Fauci an idiot today, stepping up his attacks on this nation's top infectious disease expert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies I've ever had, and we have COVID. People are saying, "Whatever, just leave us alone." They're tired of it.
People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots, these people, these people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci is a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years, he called every one of them wrong and he's like this wonderful guy, a wonderful sage, telling us how. He said, "Do not wear a face masks," that's a number of months ago. He said, "Do not close it up to China." I have a list of 15 things this guy and yet we keep him.
Every time he goes on television, there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci is a disaster. I mean, if I listen to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths. But Fuaci, if we listen to him, we'd have 700,000, 800,000 deaths right now. So, with that, I get along with him. If there's a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn't care less.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OK. So that's it now, all out war. I mean, that's the President of the United States trashing the nation's top infectious disease expert who has served every president since Ronald Reagan. Even as today, the U.S. death toll tops 220,000 Americans dead, 42 states now with an increase in hospitalizations over the past two weeks.
So why is Trump doing this right now to Fauci? Well, it could be because of this, this interview Fauci did with 60 Minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JON LAPOOK, CBS NEWS HOST: Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Absolutely not. I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. When I saw that on TV, I said, "Oh my goodness. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem." And then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So who is the President turning to at a time when he's now calling Fauci an idiot and saying good reporters on the call, there you have it? At a time when Michael Osterholm, one of the nation's top infectious disease experts says the next six to 12 weeks could be the darkest of the entire pandemic. Dr. Scott Atlas, that's what he's turning to. The controversial doctor with a history of peddling disinformation on the virus, a doctor slammed by dozens of his colleagues at Stanford is promoting falsehoods and misrepresentations of science.
Just this weekend, Dr. Atlas tweeted, "Masks work? No."
Well, Twitter took that tweet down. Today, he tried to say that he didn't say what he said with this tweet. "POTUS and I have always stressed all appropriate mitigation measures to save lives, including social distancing extra hygiene and mask wearing when one cannot social distance." This is, of course, obviously blatantly untrue when it comes to Trump, we see him day after day physically.
He was never doing the mask and the social distancing, but he got coronavirus. You saw I'm not socially distance with no mask in the Rose Garden. Dr. Atlas supports that. Because here he is defending the President for holding rallies where there is no social distancing and very, very little mask wearing on this show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. SCOTT ATLAS, ADVISER, WH CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: The President
sets the policy and I have agreed with his policy, which is wear mask when you cannot socially distance, just like I said ...
BURNETT: But they're not doing that. They're not doing that there.
ATLAS: ... what I've said and I'll say it is the President's policy is exactly right, wear mask, that's his guideline, when you cannot socially distance and it is not the policy to mandate masks.
BURNETT: But, I mean, the hypocrisy of saying that you support his policy when his actions are completely against that, that he's showing at the moment that you and I happen to be talking is just extremely hard to swallow. You say you support his policy when everything he's allowing people to do around him is against his own policy.
[19:05:04]
I mean, I feel like I'm kind of talking to a wall here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Dr. Atlas and I were talking about this rally. It was happening live as we spoke. Dr. Atlas would not say that that rally where there was no social distancing and the people who were in front of the President weren't wearing masks was wrong. He just wouldn't say it, that's the fact of the matter.
The Washington Post is now reporting the Dr. Deborah Birx contacted Mike Pence his office and said she doesn't trust Atlas. So he's not giving the President sound advice and she wants him off the task force. But it is clear he's not going anywhere. The person that Trump is really focusing his eye on is Dr. Anthony Fauci who's basically said I'd fire the guy but it would make an even bigger set of waves. So I'm making it clear I don't trust him and don't listen to him. But I'm not going to fire him. I want to have the same outcome.
Kaitlan Collins is OUTFRONT live outside the White House tonight. Kaitlan, why has the President chosen to turn his focus on Fauci?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, the President has never liked seeing Dr. Anthony Fauci on television and that 60 Minutes interview that aired last night you saw Fauci speaking to him appearing in that campaign ad, something that's been going back and forth for the last week now.
And so the President was unprompted today on that call with his campaign staff, which has been to rally staffers in these last two weeks before the election, but instead turned to this venting session on one of the nation's top doctors where the President was going after him. And then, of course, subsequently went after him for three more times today, leading to him going after him four times.
And the President and Dr. Fauci have had this tension building for a while but to see it play out in the open so publicly with just 15 days to go as the President is desperately trying to win over moderate voters is not only raising questions about the fact that this nearly 80-year-old doctor who has worked in government since the 1980s now has have security because of threats against him and his family. But it's raising questions of politically what kind of decision the President is making here and how he thinks this is in any way helpful to him.
Because if you look at the new cycle of today, it's not about the President doing two rallies and being on the road and making these appeals to voters. Instead, he's going after one of the top doctors helping sort through this pandemic, as we are still very much in the middle of it. And you're seeing Republicans respond to that and try to distance themselves from the President, which we may see a lot more in the next few weeks.
Sen. Lamar Alexander who is retiring, we should note, put out a statement today, distancing himself from the President's remarks calling Fauci a distinguished public servant and saying that if more people did what Fauci said that there will be fewer cases of COVID here in the United States. But, of course, notice that Lamar Alexander does not mention why he is tweeting that today, doesn't mention the President's attacks. Though, of course, no one around the President thinks he's going to slow down those attacks anytime soon, even though politically, they don't think they're smart.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kaitlan. And let's go now to Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who was a White House medical adviser under President George W. Bush, our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and Professor William Haseltine who did groundbreaking research on HIV/AIDS and is the author of the upcoming memoir, My Lifelong Fight Against Disease: From Polio and AIDS to COVID-19.
So Gloria, here we are, two weeks before the election and Trump is calling Dr. Fauci an idiot saying to the reporters bring it on. Basically, I'd be even worse if I fired him but I want to have the same essential outcome as firing him by saying this publicly. He wants to make him the villain. So what's the strategy here?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: There isn't any strategy, Erin. This is just the President full of personal grievance about Tony Fauci, who is more popular than he is who is more trusted than he is, who was asked to throw out the first pitch at the Nationals game and who appeared on 60 Minutes last night saying that he wasn't at all surprised that the President got sick, given the fact that he hosted a super spreader event at the White House.
You put that all together and the President is going to attack, because Fauci also said that he was effectively harassed, because they used him in a political that he said was taken out of context.
BURNETT: And let me just clear, when you bring up the pitch, the President brought up the pitch today, right?
BORGER: Oh, yes.
BURNETT: Talking about Fauci and brought up that pitch at the nationals. BORGER: Right.
BURNETT: I just want to make it clear, you're not just throwing that in there. He threw that in there, pun intended.
BORGER: Right. And no issue was too small.
BURNETT: Right.
BORGER: Nothing is too small for Donald Trump to be aggrieved about, nothing.
BURNETT: And that is the amazing thing that that pitch keeps coming up. It came up last week when he was angry at Fauci as well, Professor Haseltine. So when you see this, how much does it worry you? Clearly, I mean, he's been critical of Fauci for a while, they hadn't seen each other, but I mean this is all outward. This is him saying, I don't like this guy. I don't respect this guy. I don't want anyone to listen to this guy, because I don't do any of those things.
[19:10:00]
DR. WILLIAM HASELTINE, GROUNDBREAKING HIV/AIDS RESEARCHER: Tony Fauci has been the most clear, consistent, proponent of the measures the United States needs to protect itself from a deadly disease. What Donald Trump is doing is attacking the fire department when the house is burning down. This is a very serious time, as you have reported repeatedly.
The number of people who are being infected is going much higher, all over the country. The hospitals are filling up, the number of dead is increasing. This is a very dangerous time, especially to be attacking the one person the nation now looks to for clear, consistent guidance on what to do and it's not that complicated, wear a mask and social distance.
BURNETT: Dr. Reiner, I want to replay some of what President Trump said about Dr. Fauci in the call. I played part of them. Let me just play this one little specific part.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci is a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years. Every time he goes on television, there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb of your fire him. Fauci is disaster. If we listen to him, we'd have 700,000, 800,000 deaths right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So Dr. Reiner, what does Fauci do in terms of responding to these attacks, because when he does do media and he does try to do media, he's going to have to respond.
JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I think Dr. Fauci should just do what he what he's doing as often as he can, which is to tell the public in clear, unambiguous ways what the public should be doing to protect themselves and what the public needs to do to defeat this virus and he's doing that.
Look, I think that Dr. Fauci should disregard any kind of media clearance from the White House and do whatever media he wants to do whenever he wants to do it. I think that would be his public service. I do not think the White House can fire Anthony Fauci two weeks before the election, because he comes out to speak the truth.
I would advise Dr. Fauci to just speak out as often as he can. We haven't had a Coronavirus Task Force meeting in months really, a public meeting where the scientists can be could be questioned by the media. We really need that. So in response to this, I'd like to see Dr. Fauci feel unshackled and to speak his mind whenever he wants to.
BURNETT: So Gloria, the Trump campaign has used the irony of this right now. Now, the President calls Dr. Fauci an idiot, but he used him in a campaign ad and this is actually kind of what actually made this chasm between the two. Here's part of the ad in question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump tackled the virus head on as leaders should.
FAUCI: I can't imagine that anybody could be doing more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll get through this together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So that really incensed Fauci, all right? And to the extent that he has made that clear and then on 60 Minutes when he was asked to explain why he said that was taken out of context, he did, he made it clear, he wasn't talking about Trump. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: I do not and nor will I ever publicly endorse any political candidate. And here I am they sticking me right in the middle of a campaign ad, which I thought was outrageous. That was referring to something entirely different. I was referring to the grueling work of the task force that god we were knocking ourselves out seven days a week. I don't think we could possibly have done any more than that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the steam start to come out of your ears?
FAUCI: Yes, it did. Quite frankly, I got really ticked off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: This is still the most raw we've seen him, Gloria.
BORGER: He's mad. As he says and I think he's very clear about this, he was stuck in the middle of a campaign ad. He didn't want to be in the middle of, period. He was taken out of context. He was used in an ad to promote Donald Trump and when he said he didn't like it, Donald Trump said, he's an idiot. He said, all those scientists are idiots and that he's been around 500 years.
So what good is he, experienced might matter, but I guess Donald Trump doesn't think so. So Donald Trump just turned around and shot it right back at him. I mean, it was in a way it's predictable. Because if you ever slight Donald Trump, he's going to swing right back at you and that's what he did to Tony Fauci.
The problem the campaign has is that you can have it both ways. You can have him in the ad one day and then call them names the next day. Particularly since the public trusts him more than they trust Donald Trump on the issue that is foremost, which is handling COVID. So the President is letting - he can't get out of his own way on this.
BURNETT: So Professor Haseltine, what are these doctors to do? I mean, Fauci has made it clear he's going to stay on no matter who is president if allowed.
[19:15:04]
One would imagine given the situation if President Trump wins re election, he would get rid of him. He's making it pretty clear. Two weeks before the election, he might not.
You got Dr. Deborah Birx, there's been reporting that she had sort of thought about resigning and has gone to Pence's office to say Atlas is not trustable. This is a problem. What are these doctors supposed to do?
HASELTINE: All you can do is carry on, make sure you're doing your best to communicate to the public. Dr. Fauci has made it very clear, 80 percent to 90 percent of his job is creating new medications to help us recover and stop this epidemic. That's what he does for his day job.
What he's doing now is a public service to help us understand how to protect ourselves, especially in the case of Dr. Atlas. Dr. Atlas is counseling a course which is going to lead if followed to many hundreds of thousands, if not many millions of Americans' death. It is a very, very dangerous policy that everybody in the public health community worldwide disavows. It's a deadly, deadly policy that is being advocated. Just let it rip.
Ask somebody like Chris Christie what these super spreader events are like. And if you could, but you can't, ask Herman Cain, the same question. These are deadly events that the President is holding. He's pouring fuel onto the fire of this epidemic.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all. I appreciate it. Sobering point there. Herman Cain, of course, dead after he attended a Trump rally.
OUTFRONT next, President Trump is in Arizona right now, a state crucial to his path to 270 electoral votes. So can he win it? We'll go to the magic wall. Plus, it's one of the most closely watched Senate races, it is tight.
I'm going to talk to the man taking on incumbent Sen. David Perdue who has been facing serious backlash with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): Kamala, Kamala, I don't know, whatever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And the man behind the hit songs like Ride Like The Wind and Sailing, Christopher Cross says coronavirus left him temporarily paralyzed. He is here to tell us what he's still dealing with.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:21:13]
BURNETT: Tonight, President Trump speaking at a rally in Tucson, Arizona. That is his second rally in the state today. Trump encouraging voters to go to the polls early.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Everybody needs to get out and vote, return your absentee ballot or vert. You can go out there I think today, when do you do it, today, tomorrow, whatever. You can go out and vote today they say, today go out and vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, I'm glad if he's telling them to return those absentee ballots. He apparently has confidence in them not being a rigged election. Well, that's a separate point. Arizona has 11 electoral votes though really are crucial in the path to 270 and who wins the White House. Phil Mattingly is OUTFRONT.
So Phil, President Trump had two rallies in the state today. Biden and Harris were there just over a week ago. This has become the really crucial state for both campaigns.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's no question about it. For the Biden campaign, it expands their options. For the Trump campaign, it keeps in live several pathways that are already narrowing when you look at the numbers right now.
I want to track back to 2016. Going to Arizona back in 2016, Donald Trump won the state of Arizona 90,000 votes about three and a half points. But Erin, this was the smallest margin of victory for Republican since 1996. When Bill Clinton won the state and Democrats have been eyeing this state and it's shifting demographics for a number of years. This is the year they feel like they can capitalize.
Now the Trump campaign, as you noted, it didn't just visit today and do multiple rallies, over the course of this year, they have been several times, six different times across the state, underscoring how important this state with a hard very rock solid Trump base, but still shifting demographics means to them over the course of their time. Now, the Biden campaign only one visit up to this point very recently, but keep an eye on what they're doing on the spending front.
Look at the amount of money the Biden campaign has poured into this state, $32 million, more than $12 million than the Trump campaign. You've got outside groups as well, all underscoring, Erin, that for both campaigns, Arizona, which was once considered rock solid Republican wasn't really considered on the map until maybe late in 2016. Arizona has not only very much in play, but for Democrats, they think it could be firmly in their column by the end of this campaign.
BURNETT: So when you talk about expanding the map for Biden, but keeping a path open for Trump, can President Trump win reelection without Arizona though?
MATTINGLY: Yes. Technically, yes, but Erin, I would note no Republican ever has won the White House without winning the state of Arizona. I want to talk about limiting pathways, what I was referring to at the beginning, when you talk about President Trump. What you're looking at right now is CNN's race ratings up to this point.
You see when you factor in states where Biden is leaning or states that are leaning towards Biden, he's already above the 270 electoral math that he needs to actually win. So let's game some things out.
If you look at the yellow, these are toss ups right now. So say you give every toss up to President Trump and his campaign. He wins Florida, he wins Georgia, he wins North Carolina, he wins Ohio, he wins Iowa, he's still short of the number that he needs. So if he wins Arizona, that obviously brings him a lot - sorry, that brings him a lot closer, when you get closer to that 270 mark. He still can't win with just that number.
That brings in a bunch of the midwest states that obviously everybody is very keen on right now. But Erin, I think the big question right now for the Trump campaign is when you look at the polling when you talk to people on the ground in states like Michigan, and states like Wisconsin and states like Minnesota that the Trump campaign thought they had real openings towards, they feel like those doors may be closing.
If you win Pennsylvania, you still have to win Arizona to get above that 270 mark for the Trump campaign, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. So obviously it becomes really much when you look at it that way. All right. Phil, thank you very much. So let's go to Van Jones now, former Special Adviser to President Obama and Scott Jennings, former senior advisor to Senator Mitch McConnell.
So Van, you look at that map, but then you see headlines like this, why democrats remain nervous about Biden's chances and like this time in 2016, Trump looks doomed to defeat, that's why Democrats are worried.
[19:25:12] A Biden campaign memo comes out from the manager of the campaign,
"Donald Trump can still win this race." So Van, is this just hand wringing and trying to get turnout up or is there legitimately something there that they're worried about?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. There is legitimately something there. And as you remember, quite famously this time four years ago, I was screaming and waving my arms around. At that point Democrats say, be quiet, you're demoralizing people and you look like an idiot for saying that Trump can still win. Nobody is saying that now and here's the reasons.
Number one, polls are only as good as the people you talk to and what they tell you. You've got a whole big iceberg of white guys, conservative white guys, who actually didn't even vote in 2016. I've got sources telling me about a third to 25 percent which was third of the people going to these rallies didn't even vote for Trump in 2016. Didn't tell them they didn't vote at all.
They're therefore not likely voters, they're probably not being talked to. As that iceberg thaws, what do you expect to see, voter registration and that's what you're seeing, a surge of Republican voter registration. There's a big iceberg of votes for him that are not being polled, they're coming in the sink is more likely to be very close. Do not believe the promise of the polls, rely on the power of the people, run all the way through the tape, this thing could go any direction.
BURNETT: All right. So - which are really interesting point when you say, I mean, I know it's anecdotal, but your source is saying that you got a quarter to a third of people going to Trump rallies who weren't even Trump voters last time. That's pretty powerful.
Yet, Scott, what you also have on the other side here is like let's just take senator John Cornyn, up for reelection. So he's evaluating what he sees on the ground and what he sees is giving him cause to distance himself from the President. His comment in a recent interview is that Trump is, "Like a lot of women who get married and think they're going to change their spouse, and that doesn't usually work out very well."
So these are senators who are on the ground up for reelection who clearly see being close to Trump is not a good thing. What does that tell you? Are they wrong?
SCOTT JENNINGS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, I don't totally agree with the fact that they don't see being
close to Trump is a good thing. If they really thought that, they wouldn't be voting with Donald Trump 90 plus percent of the time. Stylistically, John Cornyn is very much different than Donald Trump and that's true for a lot of the senators that are on the ballot this year.
And I don't see these comments as an effort to distance. I see them as honest answers to questions from reporters who are finally covering these big Senate races. So I just think the idea that you would distance yourself from a president of your own party with two weeks to go in an election - I mean, nobody believes the John Cornyn is not running in the party of Donald Trump in Texas, but that doesn't mean John Cornyn can't express some disagreement stylistically with Donald Trump down the stretch.
So I think it's easy to override this and it was happening in a couple of races, but especially in Texas, I think Trump and Cornyn are likely to wind down there and have a similar vote totals.
BURNETT: OK. So Van, let me play something the President said on that campaign call. I was playing some of the Fauci part earlier, let me play something about the election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to win. I wouldn't have said that three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, two weeks ago - I don't know, I wouldn't have said it. It was tougher for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OK. So the reason I played that, Van, is he's talking about two or three weeks. Now, he needs to say that but nonetheless in the last month of 2016, you had a lot of late decided voters and of those late decider voters, more of them went for Trump than Clinton big time, you saw that.
Now, this is not an election where people are undecided, you're pointing out it could really be about new voters and new registration. But do you think that Trump is right, this two or three-week window is perhaps changed things?
JONES: Listen, we still evaluate the Trump campaign based on 1996 criteria like well, how much money is he spending on television and stuff like that. They have a big operation online. And you may have noticed that you have friends and relatives who are starting to sound completely bizarre to you. They're talking about pedophilia and all kinds of bizarre stuff, why? Because they're being bombarded online with one of the most sophisticated influence operations that you've ever seen and that is going to have an effect.
And so they probably have some data that is showing that some of this stuff is starting to eat in. We don't know how strong these floorboards are under these numbers and how much the termites of disinformation online. And frankly, just persuasion online and motivation online is affecting us. You don't see the same ads that your cousin does on Facebook. You don't see the same post that friends does on Instagram.
That's a big deal in terms of we don't know what's going on and he could have data that we don't have.
BURNETT: Scott, quick final word.
JENNINGS: Yes, I agree with Van. The Trump campaign does have sophisticated online organizing tools. They've also been utilizing traditional field organizing tools.
[19:30:06]
They're actually going door to door,
Van's point at the start of the segment was true. They've had huge success on voter registration. To overcome a polling deficit, you have to have some kind of field campaign that maybe the polling isn't picking up. That's what they're banking on.
The question is, is it enough? And I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right. Thank you both.
And next, Trump and Biden days away from facing off at their final debate. And now the president's campaign wants a major change. So we'll tell you what.
Plus, breaking news. A big upset for Trump and his campaign and their efforts to stop from ballots from being counted.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: New tonight, three days from the final presidential debate and team Trump is demanding changes. Trump's campaign manager writing a combative letter urging the Debate Commission to make foreign policy the focus of Thursday's debate. It comes as the commission is meeting to discuss potential rules changes.
So, Jeremy Diamond is out front traveling with the president in Tucson.
All right, Jeremy, obviously, this is this final debate. Now questions as to whether it happens because of all the imbroglio around it.
What is the Trump campaign demanding and what happens if the commission doesn't change the topics?
[19:35:06]
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, here's the timeline.
On Friday, the Debate Commission announced that the final -- the topics for the final debate would be the same essentially as those of the first debate, focus on COVID-19, American families, national security, climate change, among some other issues. And today a few days later, the Trump campaign essentially saying, no, we don't want those topics, we want this to be a debate focused almost exclusively on the area of foreign policy.
Here's the statement -- or the letter, rather, from the Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien that he sent to the Commission on Presidential Debates. It says: For the good of the campaign integrity and for the benefit of the American people, we urge you to rethink and reissue a set of topics for the October 22nd debate with an emphasis on foreign policy.
The Trump campaign is claiming that this debate was always supposed to be about foreign policy, but that's not true. That is not what the agreement between the two campaigns and the Debate Commission actually said. And while there has been a tradition of the third debate being focused on foreign policy, it wasn't the case back in 2016 when the Debate Commission also announced then that the topics of the third debate would be the same as the topics of the first debate.
Ultimately, it doesn't seem that there's much that the Trump campaign can do to provoke this rule change and as of now they haven't said this is an ultimatum of any kind, Erin.
BURNETT: Right. We have to see, of course, whether they do, whether this debate happens.
What's been the response, Jeremy, of the Biden campaign to this request?
DIAMDOND: Well, the Biden campaign says the Trump campaign is lying. They point to that agreement between the two campaigns and the debate commission that the moderator would be the one to choose the topics here.
Now, Joe Biden for his part, he has also looked for a couple of changes including, for example, this issue of the microphone. And he has said he would like to see some changes to the format to prevent the kind of interrupting that we saw from President Trump during that first debate.
Joe Biden also demanding, Erin, that president Trump test negative for coronavirus on the day of the debate. That is still an open question as to whether President Trump actually tested negative for coronavirus on the day of that last debate. The president, the White House has refused to say when the president last tested negative for coronavirus -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jeremy, and turning now to the battle for control of the Senate. CNN projecting eight races as either a complete tossup or one party with just a very slight edge.
Now, Republicans are defending all eight of those seats. Democrats need a net gain of four. They get four they win back the Senate. So those are the numbers you need to know.
My next guest is one of those Democrats trying to turn a red seat blue in a tossup.
OUTFRONT now, Jon Ossoff running in Georgia against the incumbent Senator David Perdue.
And, Jon, I appreciate your time. You say more than 40,000 donors have given more than $2 million to you since Friday and that is when Senator Perdue mispronounced Senator Kamala Harris's name during a Trump rally in Georgia.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): But the most insidious thing that Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden are trying to perpetrate -- and Bernie and Elizabeth and Kamala or what -- Kamala or Kamala, Kamala-mala-mala, I don't know, whatever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Perdue under fire for those comments, clearly mocking her name.
Why do you think this has been such a galvanizing moment for your campaign?
JON OSSOFF (D), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FROM GEORGIA RUNNING AGAINST SEN. PERDUE: I think what really struck a nerve here is what my opponent did really epitomize everything that's wrong with the Trump era in American politics.
He's not addressing a pandemic that's taken nearly a quarter of a million lives. He's not offering solutions to make health care more affordable for people during a public health crisis. He's not talking about how we jumpstart our economy.
He doesn't want to talk about the issues. So he resorts to schoolyard insults, bullying, mocking people for their heritage. And that's really Trumpism in a nutshell. And it's so out of touch with where Georgia is right now.
This state, my state has become younger and more diverse over the last five years. We want leaders who unify us to confront the challenges of our time, not mock their political adversaries at rallies to score cheap political points and avoid the issues.
BURNETT: So when -- you know, we hear that, that saying of Kamala, some viewers may say, oh, well, that was him but it isn't just him, it's President Trump as well and actually Mike Pence. You don't know this yet, Jon, but the president at a rally in Tucson moments ago did something similar, mispronounced Senator Harris's name three times. This just happened a moment ago.
Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Biden even chose as his running mate the most liberal senator in America.
(BOOS)
Kamala. Kamala. Senator Kamala Harris.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: He knows how to say her name. Of course she is the vice presidential nominee running against him. He has done this before, though, so has Vice President Pence.
What do you think is behind this?
OSSOFF: Well, I think this is what's accurately described as ethnonationalism, right?
[19:40:02]
This is why, for example, they always refer to Barack Obama as Barack Hussein Obama. It's about trying to identify people by their race and their heritage rather than acknowledging that we're all Americans, we're all in this together.
And we need to come together as Americans regardless of our different backgrounds to solve these problems like a pandemic that's out of control. This is all meant to distract people from the unfolding human tragedy in our country.
BURNETT: So, many people watching know your name from the special election in 2017, right? When you were going to flip a Georgia congressional seat. You raised a lot of money. You got a lot of national attention, $24 million. And that race really became a referendum on President Trump.
You lost by three points to a veteran Republican lawmaker. So now you're up obviously in Senator Perdue, up against another veteran politician. It is another referendum election on this president.
Why do you believe, Jon, this time will turn out differently for you?
OSSOFF: Here is what is so exciting about these two Senate races in Georgia right now. Remember, we're the only state with two Senate races in a single state in a single year. Georgia literally becomes younger and more diverse by the hour. There is a multiracial, multigenerational coalition demanding change.
Stacey Abrams only lost the governor's race two years ago by 50,000 votes. And we've added nearly 800,000 voters to the rolls since then. Georgia is changing. And the new Georgia rejects bigoted mockery of political adversaries as a distraction from substance and wants political leaders who unify and inspire us to take on something like COVID-19, to rebuild our economy, to invest in making America the global leader in innovation again -- the kinds of goals and vision that can bring this country together and stand in stark contrast to division and fear of Donald Trump and David Perdue.
BURNETT: All right, Jon. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
OSSOFF: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, breaking news, a major blow to the Trump campaign tonight and their specific effort to stop one state from counting some mail-in ballots. And the Grammy Award winner behind popular songs like "Sailing."
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: He was partially paralyzed because of COVID. What was going through his mind then and now. Christopher Cross is OUTFRONT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:47:13]
BURNETT: Breaking news. In a major defeat for the Trump campaign, the U.S. Supreme Court will allow mail-in ballots to be counted in Pennsylvania if they are received by three days after the election and are postmarked by Election Day.
It was a split decision. Chief justice John Roberts sided with the liberal members of the court. This as more than 28 million ballots have already been cast in the 2020 election. Some states haven't even begun early voting yet.
Pamela Brown is OUTFRONT with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ODALYS PEREZ, FLORIDA VOTER: There's a chance that your voice is not going to be counted. Why risk it?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just 15 days to go and many voters are taking no chances. Already more than 28 million votes have been cast nationwide. That number representing almost 20 percent of the more than 136 million total ballots cast four years ago. Ballots are now available in all 50 states and D.C. with in-person voting beginning in several key swing states in the coming days.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.
BROWN: Today, it started in 52 Florida counties. And rain this morning in south Florida didn't stop voters from lining up before sunrise. For those voting by mail by midday Monday, more than 2.4 million ballots have been cast in the Sunshine State. That's only about 260,000 ballots fewer than all the mail-in ballots tallied in 2016.
PEREZ: I did have an absentee ballot, but I wasn't comfortable with everything that you hear on the news. So I just decided to come in. Myself.
BROWN: Thirty percent of ballots coming from Republicans, 49 percent Democrats, and 20 percent with no party affiliation, which political experts say is a growing trend in Florida as more voters are turning their backs on both parties.
In Georgia, early voting continues to shatter records a week in. A massive 653 percent increase in absentee ballots cast by mail over 2016. Today in Colorado, vote counting begins, as does in-person voting.
TRUMP: Say this is very incorrect --
BROWN: Meanwhile, President Trump continues to give Democrats every reason to be concerned about a potential peaceful transfer of power if he were to lose to Joe Biden.
TRUMP: Then they say, if you lose will you have a friendly transition? I say I want a fair election.
BROWN: CNN is now learning that congressional Democrats, the Biden campaign, and outside groups are working on contingency plans behind the scenes, coming up with the two part strategy in anticipation of that very scenario, preparing for a post-election legal battle and messaging war into combating misinformation about voting.
Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[19:50:02]
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, Christopher Cross, the Grammy Award winning artist behind hits like "Arthur's: Best That You Can Do", speaking out next, revealing his experience with coronavirus which has been all encompassing. He's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, five-time Grammy Award winning singer Christopher Cross, known for his song, "Sailing", "Ride like the Wind", and, of course, "Arthur's Theme: Best That You Can Do".
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: That's my personal favorite.
Well, Christopher Cross was temporarily paralyzed and nearly died from coronavirus, and he is OUTFRONT.
I mean, Christopher, you know, you tested positive for coronavirus in March, you were very sick for three weeks and then you thought things were okay and, all of a sudden, something changed.
Tell me about that moment. What then happened to you?
CHRISTOPHER CROSS, FIVE-TIME GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING MUSICIAN: Well, I'll just say, I was feeling a little better after three weeks of feeling pretty crappy, and suddenly, my legs just gave out, and I was paralyzed and I couldn't walk. It was a neurological complication from COVID-19.
And I was rushed to the ICU. I was there for ten days. Fortunately, I got, you know, good treatment that kind of abated the paralysis to a degree, mostly to my waist. I did have some hand and face paralysis.
[19:55:04]
But I was lucky in that way.
BURNETT: I mean, so, so, you are three weeks past, you think that you're really getting better then this happens, this -- I mean, paralysis. Why do doctors believe that it was related to COVID, something so drastic and neurological?
CROSS: Well, I did a test for it but, you know, they're convinced it was from COVID because what's wrong with me is access to a viral infection which COVID is. So, I was only the second person in the world to have this happen. But since there have been many and typically, it's only one in 100,000.
So, they know it's from and it was just a complication, which there are a lot of with COVID that people don't realize and that's why I have to warn people that they got to be careful, this could happen to you, you know?
BURNETT: Yeah, especially as people now there is fatigue, right, and perhaps people don't realize how truly awful this can be over the longer term. I know you dealt with speech issues. You've dealt with memory issues all because of the virus.
And I showed a picture moment ago, Chris, I notice that you are not using a wheelchair, thank God, but you are walking with a cane, and you are still living this every single day. Here you are and, you know, thank you for the courage of sharing this so that people can see what you had to endure, what you are enduring. How long do doctors say that you're going to be doing this and recovering?
CROSS: Well, there's no way to know, Erin. I think they say nine months to a year I should -- whatever. Whatever much healing I'll have, I will, but I could just be like this forever.
You know back when I had at March, of course, we had no -- we had no way -- I was on a trip, no one wore mask, no one had mask on the plane.
BURNETT: Yeah.
CROSS: The administration just didn't tell us about it, so I didn't know.
And now we know. And so, again, that's the good news, and people can do something about it.
But I have no idea. They don't really expect for me to heal completely, I hope to do better than I am. But, you know, I'm -- I'm able to walk with a cane and I can at least live my life and I'm very fortunate compared to so many.
BURNETT: Are you -- how are you coping? You know, your songs have -- bring joy to so many. Are you still -- do you get joy from that? Are you able to sing? Are you making music? CROSS: Yes, I just was in the studio doing something recently and I
do -- it's been, you know, a singular passion and my joy throughout my life. So, definitely, and I am just honored that people have been brought some solace or happy to see whatever through my music.
So, you know, this has been hard. Erin, I think the big thing is just acceptance, because whatever happens going forward, I did feel bless to be able to be out of the wheelchair. I think that you and I (ph) are talking that the world is not really set up for disabled people and I found that out.
And so, I am grateful for where I am at. You know, it is all about acceptance and gratitude really. I'll just -- I'm just grateful that I healed as much as I did and I hope to tell people that they need to be careful and wear masks, protect themselves and others.
BURNETT: I -- I -- there's no way they're not going to watch you and take that away from this. And I just -- I want to be clear. You are supporting Joe Biden.
But, you know, the president has said things frankly, Christopher, that speaks straight to people in our situation, right? The maskless rallies, without social distancing.
Soon after his diagnoses with coronavirus, right, when he was in the hospital for three days, he tweeted, don't be afraid of COVID, don't let it dominate your life.
Then he went on to say this the other day at a rally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I went through it. Now, they say I'm immune. I can feel -- I feel so powerful, I will walk on that audience, I'll walk in there, I'll kiss every one in that audience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: How do you even respond to that?
CROSS: Well, you know, I would say to everyone -- be afraid, be very afraid, because, you know, you know people know me, who me know through my music, or whatever. This happened to me, so it can happen to you.
And, of course, not all of us have the benefit of the kind of care and drugs that President Trump had. And he's doing a huge disservice to everyone by telling him this stuff, because I say, you know, this has sort of -- you know, it's been awful what I have had to deal with, and certainly nothing compared to what a lot of families had to deal with.
But, you know, we need to just -- I will say not listen to our president, I hate to say that, but it's absolutely true. He's just -- he's spreading misinformation and really hurting people as we go forward. And if we're ever get rid of this, it's just going to be by -- by
wearing masks and take care of ourselves, you know? And you're right. I mean, I hope -- I hope for a change of leadership.
But right now, the best thing you can do is protect ourselves, you know, because this is -- you know, it happened to me. And I hate to keep -- I'm doing better (ph), but it can happen to you out there. So, please be careful, you know?
BURNETT: Well, I -- I hope people will listen to you. I know they will, because it is -- it is true. Someone like you, you know, a lot of people look at you and think, oh, how could it happen to you? But it did and you're dealing with it. I thank you for sharing.
And I wish you all the very, very best and getting 100 percent better, Chris. Thank you.
CROSS: Thank you very much, Erin. It's good to talk to you.
BURNETT: You, too.
And thanks to all of you.
Anderson starts now.
