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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Wisconsin Can't Accept Ballots After Election Day; Amy Coney Barrett Sworn in at Packed White House; Georgia on Biden's Mind as Campaigns Enter Final Week; Australian State of Victoria Ending 112- Day Lockdown; Rams Dominate Bears on Monday Night Football. Aired 5- 5:30a ET
Aired October 27, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:21]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, a Supreme Court ruling brings renewed urgency for people voting by mail in a critical battleground state, and the court's newest member is sworn in at another event defying the pandemic.
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And Joe Biden makes his closing argument today. He's doing it in a state that Democrats haven't won in almost 30 years.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States, and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
ROMANS: Good morning. I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, October 27th. It is 5:00 a.m. exactly here in New York.
Election Day now one week away and folks, today, is the deadline to request a mail-in ballot in Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, the last day to request a mail-in ballot. Early voting starts today in Washington, D.C., and parts of Kansas.
JARRETT: And if you plan to vote by mail in Wisconsin, better get moving. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Democrats' effort there to allow absentee ballots counted up to six days after the election because of the pandemic. A lower court did extend that deadline for counting but that ruling was blocked by a federal appeals court and now up held by the high court, meaning bottom line here, absentee ballots must now be received by 8:00 p.m. on November 3rd.
This decision is a win for Republicans and it could impact the tally in this key battleground state. Wisconsin was one of three Rust Belt states that gave President Trump the White House back in 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD PILDES, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: Up until now, the court has been issuing stays or vacating stays, but it hasn't written opinions. This is a 35 of page -- 35-page opinion, four justices writing, laying out their views on the law that will have implications for voting rights going forward, well past this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Similar cases are pending in North Carolina and Pennsylvania where the GOP is trying, again, to cut a ballot deadline short after the Supreme Court deadlocked on the issue last week. That makes last night's Republican led confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court that much more significant. She could cast a deciding vote in these pending election cases.
Barrett was sworn in before another big pandemic era crowd at the White House even as the vice president's office battles an outbreak there. More distancing and masks after her introduction last month turned into a super spreader event.
JARRETT: Barrett took her oath just eight days before the election, even the GOP said eight months was not enough time to confirm Judge Merrick Garland to the court in the last presidential election cycle.
The court is preparing to take up big issues including Obamacare, abortion rights and New York prosecutors' access to the president's taxes.
Last night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the quiet part out loud.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We had a Supreme Court fight a month before the election in 2018 and we actually gained seats. I think this nominee will be a political asset for our candidates around the country, not a liability, but an asset.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: As for ballot deadlines to watch here, the 26 states yellow will only count ballots that arrive on or before Election Day. But the green states you see there and Washington, D.C., will take ballots for a few more days. They represent nearly 2/3 of the electoral votes, yet another reason you should not expect a final result on election night.
ROMANS: All right. Joe Biden makes his closing argument for the election today, and where he does it is telling. The former vice president is heading to Georgia, a reliably red state that is now in play. Biden plans to hammer home his message of national unity and overcoming the vitriol in today's politics.
He also plans to add a stop in Iowa. Both Georgia and Iowa have competitive Senate races. Biden also made sure that President Trump was not the only candidate campaigning in Pennsylvania yesterday.
Jessica Dean has more for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA DEAN, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Laura and Christine.
Vice President Joe Biden making a surprise stop in Pennsylvania late on Monday. He visited with voters there. He also took time to speak with traveling reporters and he had this to say about President Trump's handling of the coronavirus.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE; I have been saying for months as you well know that he waved the white flag all the way back then. He wouldn't do much at all. Some people said I was being harsh, that I was being unfair, the White House is coming out right now and admitting what I said months ago was absolutely true. The big difference between us and the reason why it looks like we're not traveling, we're not putting on super spreaders. It's important to be responsible.
[05:05:01]
DEAN: Now, later today, Biden will travel to Georgia. It's a state that no Democrat has carried in a presidential election since 1992. And a campaign aide telling me the fact that he's traveling so close to Election Day shows how seriously they're taking Georgia this go around. This will be a key closing argument for Joe Biden.
We'll hear more from him from Georgia later today -- Christine and Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Jessica, thank you for that report.
President Trump is heading to Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska today after a full day of events in Pennsylvania that largely ignored the threat of the pandemic.
Now, Minnesota is reporting three coronavirus outbreaks related to the president's campaign events there in September, including the rally he held just hours before testing positive himself.
But President Trump is going all in on his reelection strategy to paint this deadly virus as nothing more than a media sensation.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more from Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, President Trump is campaigning hard to win Pennsylvania, he held three rallies in this critical battleground state, and as we have seen a campaign event after campaign event for President Trump, many of his supporters are not wearing masks as the crowd is not doing any social distancing.
And the president seems to be blaming some of his election woes on one thing, COVID, COVID, COVID.
Here's what he had to say. DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: COVID, COVID, COVID,
that's all they talk about, what progress we have made on it, too, we understand it.
Look, I mean, I got it, and I'm here, right? I'm here.
ACOSTA: Now, President Trump isn't the only one out on the campaign trail. Vice President Mike Pence is also holding rallies, even though some of his own staffers have recently contracted COVID-19. Pence is the head of the Coronavirus Task Force and yet the events he's holding are flouting the COVID-19 guidelines of his own administration -- Christine and Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Jim, thanks for that.
President Trump's sunny outlook on coronavirus is at odds with the dark reality. The seven-day average of new cases has now reached its highest level of the pandemic, heading toward 70,000 a day, at least 75 percent of the country moving in the wrong direction, 27 states hit new case records this month alone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA CHIEF: If we took some aggressive targeted steps right now, we could potentially fore stall the worst of it. But we're not going to do that, and I understand why. There's a lot of fatigue set in, and the lot of policy resistance to taking strong action ahead of, you know, spread.
And so, we're likely to see a very dense epidemic. I think we're right now at the cusp of what's going to be exponential spread in parts of the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: In Utah, hospitals could start rationing health care at overwhelmed facilities. The plan could mean using a patient's age, health and other factors to determine who can remain in intensive care.
Meantime, in South Dakota, the positivity rate for new cases, an astonishing rate of 23 percent yesterday. And in Illinois, only a third of ICU beds remain available. New restrictions outside of Chicago include suspending indoor dining and drinking and capping all social gatherings at 25 people as the weather gets cooler.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D), ILLINOIS: If you're getting tired and you've let your guard down, now is the time to pick it back up. There is no easy fix for the effect of this virus on our economy and on our public health.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JARRETT: Now, the decline in hospitalizations for non-COVID issues suggests once again that people are delaying necessary medical care, overcrowding at hospitals could make that worse, and with Halloween days away, the CDC fears more super spreader events. The agency suggests keeping traditional celebrations at home, with family members, and costume parties and scavenger hunts online.
ROMANS: All right. To Wall Street now, an ugly day to start the week. Stocks fell Monday on grim news of rising U.S. coronavirus cases, new shutdowns in Europe, a stalemate in Washington over economic relief.
The Dow lost 2.3 percent. The broadest measure of the market, that's S&P 500, down 1.9 percent, the worst day in a month. The travel industry hit hard with a big selloff for U.S. airlines and hotels. Look at that. Cruise lines among the worst performing stocks in the S&P.
There's a lot for investors to grapple with here. European shares fell due to new restrictions there combating the second wave of the pandemic. Virus cases are surging and so are hospitalizations.
But Congress seems at a stalemate with a new stimulus deal. That would help millions of out of work Americans and struggling businesses and industries. Economists across the board say more stimulus is crucial to the recovery taking hold and staying intact. In fact, following an ugly September, Wall Street rallied on hopes of government spending. Most of those gains now have been erased.
There could be a rebound today. We're looking at U.S. futures, Laura, and they are mixed here. At least it looks like they have stopped the bleeding from yesterday.
JARRETT: Yeah, we'll see what happens there.
[05:10:01]
Well, 112-day lockdown is ending for part of Australia. We're going to tell you how they got the pandemic under control as the U.S. and Europe struggle.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. About 61 million ballots has been cast in this presidential election. Thirty-three states have surpassed their pre- election vote totals in 2016. And Homeland Security Agencies are preparing for the possibility of more civil unrest amid a contentious election. It's part of a concerted effort by federal and local authorities to prepare for potential large scale protests.
JARRETT: And in Michigan, there's a lawsuit to block a decision banning open carry of guns at polling places. Michigan secretary of state defends the change, saying it's within state's right to control what happens at polling places on Election Day.
[05:15:01] There's also a new controversy in Florida, thousands of mail-in ballots in the state face rejection due to missing or mismatched signatures. And ballots from black and Hispanic voters make up a disproportionate number of those affected.
ROMANS: All right. Officials in the Australian state of Victoria are urging people to remain vigilant as they end one of the world's longest coronavirus lockdowns. That includes the state capital of Melbourne which reported no new cases for a second straight day.
CNN's Selina Wang joins us live with more.
Good morning.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.
That's right. This has been one of the world's longest and toughest lockdowns. It's been painful for residents, businesses in Melbourne. From a health perspective, it's worked.
Just months ago, Melbourne and Victoria were reporting more than 700 daily COVID cases. Now that's come down to zero. Meanwhile, you look at the U.S. and Western Europe and parts of Europe where they are skyrocketing. Now, these types of lockdowns have been controversial. For instance, there were protests in September. There were people who were arrested, dozens who were arrested.
But again, these governments in Victoria, they put in these types of restrictions that Europe and the U.S. have been reluctant to do. This does mean now that Victoria can get back to business. People in Melbourne can leave their homes, they can freely leave their homes. Businesses, restaurants, stores reopening.
And, remember, for more than 110 days, the restrictions for 5 million people in Melbourne were they could only leave their homes for essential activities and also for a while, they couldn't leave more than 5 kilometers from their homes.
But, Christine, this isn't life totally back to normal. There are still many rules that are in place. For instance, masks are still required. In fact, you'll be fined if you're not wearing a mask outside.
And I just want to bring up this one comment from the premier who said that until there's a vaccine, there will be no normal. There will only be COVID normal. A sobering reminder for all of us.
ROMANS: COVID normal indeed.
All right. Selina, thank you so much for that from Hong Kong for us.
JARRETT: All right. From the first votes to the critical count, understand what's happening in your state and across the country, the way only CNN can bring it to you. "Election Night in America," CNN's special coverage starts next Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:21:46]
JARRETT: All right. Week seven of the NFL season is wrapping up with the Rams dominating the Bears on Monday night football.
Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Laura.
You know, despite having a benched quarterback, Mitch Trubisky, for Nick Foles and all of their offensive problems, the Bears were 5-1 heading into last night's match up against the Rams. The Bears didn't play like a 5-1 football team. Third quarter down 17-3. Foles leads the Bears on a good drive down the field but ends with it pass getting picked off in the end zone.
The Rams would then take advantage, driving all the way down the field. Jared Goff, turns around takes that in for a touchdown. Rams dominate this game start to finish, beating the Bears 24-10.
All right. Some bad news for the 5-2 Cleveland Browns, Odell Beckham Jr. tore his ACL, trying to make this tackle in the first quarter on Sunday. Brown's off to their best start since 1994. But they're not going to be without OBJ for the remainder of the season.
Awesome moment at a northern V.A. hospital yesterday. Washington head coach Ron Rivera receiving tears after he finished his last round of chemotherapy and proton therapy. Rivera announced before this season that he had a form of skin cancer. He never stopped coaching and now he got to ring the bell, signaling the end of his seven weeks of treatment.
Really cool moment there for Ron Rivera.
And you know, his team on a bye this week after beating the Cowboys on Sunday. Nothing really going right for the 2-5 Cowboys this season, especially defensively. Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan couldn't get through his press conference yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE NOLAN, COWBOYS DEFENSE COORDINATOR: Excuse me, I got something in my eye. Just had some Tabasco on my finger, and it went in my eye. That wasn't good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: The old hot sauce in the eye. We have all been there, eating something spicy or something, and accidentally touch our eye, then, you know, the rest of the night is ruined. You can't do anything other than trying to wash it out.
But oh, man, the Cowboys, not their season. ROMANS: Yeah, no, not at all.
All right. Andy, thank you so much. Nice to see you this morning.
SCHOLES: All right.
ROMANS: Joe Biden heads to the Deep South to make his closing argument for the election. It will have to resonate quickly in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court says the deadline for mail-in ballots will not be delayed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:29:01]
ROMANS: Breaking overnight, a Supreme Court ruling brings renewed urgency for people voting by mail in a critical battleground state, and the court's newest member sworn in at another event defying the pandemic.
JARRETT: And Joe Biden makes his closing argument today, and he's doing it in a state Democrats haven't won in almost 30 years.
Good morning. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
ROMANS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Christine Romans. It's just about 30 minutes past the hour this Tuesday morning.
And if you plan to vote by mail in Wisconsin, better get moving. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Democrats' effort to allow absentee ballots to be counted up to six days after the election because of the pandemic. A lower court did extend the deadline for counting, but that ruling was blocked by an appeals court and now upheld by the high court.
The decision is win for Dem -- for Republicans, rather, and it could impact the tally in this key battleground. Wisconsin was one of three Rust Belt states that gave President Trump the White House in 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD PILDES, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: Up until now, the court has been issuing stays or vacating stays, but it hasn't written opinions. This is a 35 of page -- 35-page opinion .
