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New Day Saturday

Trump And Biden Make Final Push in Battleground States; More Than 86 Million Ballots Already Cast Three Days Until Election Day; U.S. Daily COVID-19 Cases Surpass 90,000 For First Time, Highest-Ever Daily Record; Economy Grew A Record 33.1 Percent Annual Rate Last Quarter; Voting Rights Fights Playing Out In Battleground State Courts. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired October 31, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has been the worst week ever for coronavirus cases in the United States.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By the way, you know, without it, we're still rounding the corner.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The President of United States (INAUDIBLE) medical profession of making up COVID death. So, they make more money.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doctors go in putting their lives on the line to take care of patients every day, that's not how doctors get paid.

BIDEN: This president has done everything to try to discourage us. He will not be able to stop us at all.

TRUMP: We are going on to win four more great years in the White House.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: We've been tracking one of the biggest stories in this election, the explosion in early voting numbers nearly 87 million have already voted across the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They haven't sent their ballot in yet walk it to the election office or drop box, but do it in person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You really don't really have an excuse at this point for not being able to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The sun's coming up. New York, you are beautiful at the top of this brand-new hour. Thank you for being with us. And listen, this is, I would say it's unbelievable, but we've set records five times in the last eight days. This time, though, the U.S. has set a world record for the most coronavirus cases in a single day: 99,321 Americans were reported infected on Friday.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And that's from coast to coast. We're talking about multiple states. Look at the map here. Multiple states are hitting record highs, and the President who claims America is "rounding the turn" continued to hold these potential super-spreader rallies.

BLACKWELL: Millions of votes have already been cast. We are three days out from Election Day, both candidates, they're focusing on the Rust Belt states today. These are the battleground states that are really the reason President Trump won the presidency in 2016. Today, President Trump will be at four rallies in Pennsylvania, he won that state by less than one percentage point in 2016.

PAUL: And Joe Biden's in Michigan. Now, the President won that state by fewer than 11,000 votes last time around. Right now, CNN's Poll the Polls has the former vice president ahead by eight points there in Michigan. CNN has all the angles covered here. M.J. Lee's following the Biden campaign, Sarah Westwood at the White House, Suzanne Malveaux is in North Carolina, and Randi Kaye is in Florida.

So good to see all of you. We do want to start with Randi Kaye, she's there polling place in plantation Florida. Randi, we know the Democrats are seeing a strong turnout where you are in Broward County. Republicans do like what they're seeing in neighboring Miami Dade. And I can't imagine the rain is helping much but what are you hearing and seeing there?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're, we're hearing a lot of thunder and seeing a lot of lightning, but we're also seeing a lot of very committed voters. There's about two dozen in line. I'm not sure if you can see them over my left shoulder here. But they are out here braving this horrible weather that we're experiencing here just two days to go for the early voting here in the state, already more than 7.8 million Floridians have voted. They've already surpassed the voting totals for early voting back in 2016.

For, for Donald Trump, of course, we know Florida is pretty much a must win. He only won back in 2016 by about 1.2 percent. I'm sure you can hear that thunder, but it's not keeping the folks away as I said. But Team Biden knows that, that Donald Trump has to have a win here in Florida, so they are sending Kamala Harris here and Joe Biden here to South Florida this weekend. They are going to try and also have these coordinated souls to the polls to try and get the African American voters out to vote this weekend.

That's because Joe Biden does seem to be underperforming here in the state among Black voters and Latino voters as compared to Hillary Clinton. So, he's doing very well with seniors compared to that, and that could have something to do with the pandemic. I've been driving across the state. I've talked to a lot of seniors, they're very concerned about the pandemic, their health, and not being able to see their grandchildren. Many of them are not thrilled with the response from this administration. But I can't tell you that this is a nail biter for sure, that we're that we're teeing up here.

Once again in Florida, seven out of the 10 last elections have been within recount range here and the big wildcard, really as we, as we look at these folks here in line is you have to wonder are they independent? How are they registered because already, 1.6 million Independence or no party affiliated voters have voted here in the state. So, it's unclear which way they're go, but they could -- which way they went, but they could be key to a Trump or Biden victory here. Back to you guys.

[07:05:16]

BLACKWELL: All right. Get into some shelter. Randi Kaye there in Broward County. Thank you so much. Let's go now to another battleground, North Carolina, and CNN Suzanne Malveaux is in Charlotte. Strong early voting numbers there too.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Record numbers, Victor, if you take a look at it. I mean, the polling center behind me it just opened. The lights are on about 7:30 or so is when those voters will be able to cast their, their ballots early.

This is the last day for them to do it. It will close at 3:00, but the numbers are really staggering when you take a look at these voters know how important this election is. 7.3 million voters in North Carolina of those four million have already cast their ballots. You're talking about 55 percent of all the registered voters in the state. Just to give it some perspective, that is 80 percent of all the voters from 2016.

So, folks have been in line, they've been in long lines since October 15th, casting their ballots, making sure that they're in on time. Both sides know that this is a must win state but specifically President Trump knows that. Five of the seven strategies to get to a win has to go through North Carolina, and so they are very cognitive very much aware of that the President having attended and visiting this state about eight times already. The most recent one in Lumberton, North Carolina. That is where he's trying to hit those rural areas. Those areas that he already has support to gin up his base. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In 2016, North Carolina voted to fire this depraved political establishment and you elected an outsider as your president, happened to be me. We're going to win. We're going to win North Carolina. We better went North Carolina. I've been back here so much; I might as well just call it my home state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, most of the polls showing that Joe Biden is actually just slightly ahead of President Trump but still it is too close to call. Neither side is taking this for granted. We are going to see Joe Biden and comedian, Amy Schumer, who are going to be visiting here in Charlotte, North Carolina later today. We will also see Vice President Pence here and President Trump tomorrow, Victor.

PAUL: All right, Suzanne, I'll take it. Suzanne Malveaux there North Carolina, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: So, we we've heard about the record numbers in Florida and in North Carolina, but this is happening across the country. More than 86.8 million voters have cast ballots. That's according to a survey of election officials in all 50 states in Washington, D.C. by CNN Edison Research and Catalyst, two data company that provides data analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue advocacy organizations.

PAUL: Now, we want to give you some context here, that pre-election count is already nearly two thirds of the more than 136 million total ballots that were cast during the 2016 election. CNN's Sarah Westwood is at the White House for us. We know Sarah, good morning to you, the President is heading to Pennsylvania. Talk to us about you know what his concerns are there.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, guys, Pennsylvania is a big prize for President Trump, very valuable to the campaign at 20 electoral votes. It's one of those states that the next president of the United States is likely going to have to carry next week in order to win that victory. And we know the President has four events across the state today, spending a lot of these precious final hours of the campaign in Pennsylvania.

The Trump campaign is trying to drive up turnout in some of those areas outside the cities, Western Pennsylvania, for example, where they know the Trump voters are located. They've got to overcome what's expected to be much stronger support for Biden in Pennsylvania City. So, that's part of why we see the president spending so much time there. He's also going back on Monday for his fifth rally between now and Election Day in Pennsylvania.

All in all, he's going to continue this breakneck pace. He has 14 rallies scheduled over the next three days, so he'll be very busy barnstorming these states that are going to be key to deciding the next president. And if you talk to Trump campaign officials, if you talked to Republican advisors, they'll say that there is still hope for the president in Pennsylvania, even though he is trailing Biden significantly in the public polls. And that's because they say the Trump campaign has had superior ground game there, they've been doing in person voter contacts get out the vote efforts longer than the Biden campaign. They've invested more into that in Pennsylvania.

They also point to an uptick in GOP voter registration over 2016 levels. That's a reason why they still have hope, but again, Biden does have the advantage there. And this is the pandemic election. Ultimately, Biden has work to turn this race into a referendum. The President's handling of the virus and Trump has made this gamble in his closing argument that Americans are more concerned about returning to normal than they are about the virus. So, that's really the broad outlines of the messages we're going to see on the campaign trail today, Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: A message we saw yesterday at several stops, and maybe we'll see it again, as the President suggesting that doctors are lying about the cause of death, saying that it's coronavirus so they can make a little extra cash. Talk about this lie we're hearing from the president.

[07:10:32]

WESTWOOD: Yes, Victor a lie, it is. It is a baseless and really just stunning attack on healthcare workers that we heard from the President yesterday, claiming without evidence that doctors are inflating COVID death numbers in order to get more funding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our doctors get more money if somebody does from COVID. You know that, right? I mean, our doctors are very smart people. So, what they do is they say I'm sorry, but you know, everybody dies of COVID.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: You know those comment obviously drew a lot of scrutiny, particularly from the medical community, and I want you to take a listen to one doctor's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: The President is a liar. I mean, I'm sorry to say that, but I just can't take it anymore. Look, over 1000 health care workers in this country have died, trying to save the lives of their fellow Americans. And, you know, every day they go to work, and they're the real super people, the Superman and Superwoman. They go to work every single day and put themselves at risk, to put out the fire that he has stoked, and that his actions have, have continued to endanger the lives of people in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: And this is coming as cases are spiking across the country. Yesterday alone, more than 90,000 Americans were diagnosed with COVID, more than 900 Americans died from the virus. So, this is the backdrop of the President's comments there. The cases are also, by the way, spiking in the Midwest, where the President is campaigning and where he said those words yesterday, Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: Sarah Westwood at the White House. Thanks so much. CNN's M.J. Lee is traveling with the Biden campaign. M.J., former vice president, he is heading to Michigan. He is a head by eight points in the CNN Poll the Polls, what are we expecting to hear and see today from the Vice President's campaign?

M.J. LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, well, we can very much tell that we are now really in the final stretch, even just based on the pace of campaigning that has really ramped up for the former vice president. Yesterday, we saw him traveled to three states in one day, which he has not done before: Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and only returning here to Wilmington, a little before midnight. And in each of these states, you were asking you about his closing message, we heard him give what has sort of become his new stump speech very much going after President Trump and his handling of COVID-19.

And essentially saying, look, based on how he has handled all of this and the cases and the death, he is not qualified for a second term. And Biden Of course, using these stump speeches to lay out his own plan for dealing with the virus saying that he is going to listen to scientists. And one thing that we also heard from the former Vice President yesterday is him going after the president for making this baseless attack that Sarah just talked about going after doctors and nurses and medical professionals for inflating the number of COVID deaths so that they can make more money. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: The President United States is accusing the medical professionals of making up COVID death, so they make more money. Doctors and nurses go to work every day to save lives. They do their jobs. Donald Trump just started to stop attacking them, and do his job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now, something else that we have been hearing from Joe Biden is him sort of stressing that he is not at this point in the race taking anything for granted. He made this case last night in Wisconsin, you all will remember that this is a state that Hillary Clinton infamously did not visit once, back in 2016.

He told voters that he has been visiting Wisconsin for that reason because he takes it seriously and that he also will be coming back if he wins. Later today, he's going to be campaigning in Michigan. He will be joined by former President Barack Obama and singer songwriter, Stevie Wonder, and the rest of the weekend. And into Monday, he will be spending a lot of time in Pennsylvania guys.

PAUL: All righty, M.J. Lee great wrap up. Thank you so much.

[07:14:43]

BLACKWELL: So, this has been the worst week ever for the U.S. as it comes to the coronavirus, and the spread of that virus really for any country in the world. And the President is holding for potential super spreader events today. We'll talk about these and more with Dr. Abdul el-Sayed next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: The U.S. is leading in something right now that nobody wants to be leading in. That is the case count for the highest daily average case count or the highest daily case count of coronavirus cases: 99,321 cases reported yesterday.

BLACKWELL: The director of the CDC says that the silent epidemic as he calls it of asymptomatic infections is responsible. And consider this, it's more than the cases 14 states have now reported record high hospitalizations that was on Friday, and doctors want you to get your flu shot now. PAUL: Epidemiologist and CNN Contributor Dr. Abdul el-Sayed is with us and I just want to reiterate this number. I know that it's just shy of 100,000 but it is the highest case count in the world and the U.S. is leading it for Friday.

So, when you hear those numbers, and we know that President Trump is out there on the campaign trail, and I'm going to read this verbatim, because I want to make sure that I get his words, right, saying: "Our doctors get more money if someone dies from COVID." He has not offered any evidence of that. But please, for one fact, check that for us from the president. And two, help us understand what is happening in this country that we are just 100,000, almost at 100,000 in one day.

[07:20:42]

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: It is a travesty. And it is the president taking his own broken moral compass and applying it to people who've dedicated their entire lives to saving lives. And then thinking, well, this is what I would do. So, it must be what they're doing too. This isn't about trying to get more money. In fact, if Donald Trump succeeds in repealing the ACA, it would be a boon for the health insurers and the hospital corporations that, that he seems to think are causing this.

So, the fact is, is that he has done more to try and enrich corporations who take health care than the doctors and nurses and hospital staff who are struggling to get basic PPE to take care of patients who are coming in sick with a preventable disease that he has failed to do the basic things to try and prevent.

And that's led us now to nearly 100,000 COVID-19 cases. And I want to be clear to folks, not only is this the most COVID-19 in the world, but this is the most COVID-19 the U.S. has ever seen in a day. We are in the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic right now, and we have to start acting like it.

And the President has to start acting like it. The fact that we still don't have enough testing, the fact that we still don't have enough PPE, the fact that we still don't have competent content, competent contact-tracing and most of the country. All of these, the fact that we've been eight months in and we don't have that speaks to the utter failure of the president in this moment, and it is a sad truth and a sad reality that we're dealing with right now, and doctors are dealing with front and center.

PAUL: And one of the other realities that I think is really hard to, to gauge and to overcome is something that CDC director talked about, saying that asymptomatic infections are the culprit of some of the spread that we're seeing right now. So, if they're asymptomatic, and people don't know if they're sick, I mean, how do we stop this other than, is there anything we can do other than the masks, the social distancing?

EL-SAYED: Well, the most important thing, as we have been saying now for months is to wear a mask, Christi. That's right, if you put a mask over your face, even if you're not feeling symptoms, what you are doing is you are protecting other people from you potentially spreading it to them asymptomatically. And I know that a lot there probably people watching are saying, well, if it's asymptomatic, why are we so worried?

Well, because at some point, it becomes systematic. When you allow something to spread asymptomatically to folks, it's only a matter of time until it becomes symptomatic in people who may have a really bad outcome. Now, I've also heard people saying, well, the death rate isn't as high, up as high as, as the COVID-19 case rate. It's coming. We're up 16 percent over the last two weeks and it follows that when you have the spread of something that can be extremely deadly, that there's going to be mortality that follows.

So, that's coming. And what's worse now, and I want folks to understand this is, is in the past COVID-19 was mainly in a few large cities that, that was in in April and May. Now, it's everywhere, and as people get more and more sick, they have the potential to inundate hospitals in rural communities that won't have the same capacity to deal with COVID as the hospitals that we saw in New York City and Seattle did. And when that happens, the deaths are going to follow too. And so, we've got to take this seriously. We cannot continue to pretend like COVID is over.

We cannot continue to allow the president to dissuade us from doing the basic things that we need to protect ourselves and our families. We cannot continue to allow the president to point to doctors, as if they're the reason why COVID-19 cases and deaths are up. Instead, it's his poor leadership that is the reason why and we've got to listen to the scientists, not listen to a politician who thinks that he's going to win an election by telling us that the thing that is front and center in our face is not really there.

PAUL: And I want to point out to what you were talking about hospitalizations, point out that 14 states are seeing a record-high hospitalizations right now. That's 55 percent, a 55 percent rise in hospitalizations just this month alone. Dr. Abdul el-Sayed, so appreciate your insight. Thank you, sir.

EL-SAYED: Thank you for having me.

[07:24:45]

BLACKWELL: Coming up some good news on the economy. Strong economic news right before the election could help the president get a boost with voters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Now, this woman is being pulled out from the rubble in Izmir in Turkey. You remember that earthquake hit the Aegean Sea on Friday, at least 27 people were killed in Turkey and in Greece.

PAUL: Turkey was hardest hit. The country's disaster agency says more than 800 people are injured there and rescue teams have been plowing through concrete blocks and debris for more than a dozen collapsed buildings at this point. They're working through the night to using diggers and helicopters to try to search for survivors and clearly that video shows it is working. Thank goodness.

BLACKWELL: So, some rare good economic news, and it could help President Trump in the last few days of this race this week. GDP report show the economy grew at a record annualized rate of 33 percent last quarter.

PAUL: Now, the economy still isn't back to where it was prior to the pandemic, we need to point out.

[07:30:07]

BLACKWELL: CNN's Politics and Business Correspondent Cristina Alesci tells us what this all means.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christi, Victor. Trump making his closing arguments to the American voter likely touting his economic achievements, but those arguments might be unraveling quickly here, Christi, Victor. That's because one of the ways that Trump measures his success is through the stock market, which experienced a sell-off this week.

The Dow was down 6.5 percent. That is the most since March. That's because investors see the virus raging out of control in this country, no stimulus in sight for the average American worker, and then Trump sowing distrust in the election results, all of that putting investors on edge.

Meanwhile, the real economy is still facing challenges of its own. We still have not recovered all of the jobs that we lost throughout the pandemic. We're only halfway there. And now economist strategists are seeing real challenges ahead. Even one of Trump's own economic advisors admitted as much this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NAVARRO, DIRECTOR, TRADE AND MANUFACTURING POLICY: We're clear- eyed about the challenges ahead. We've got basic structural problems we're facing because of the virus that came from China. We have issues with our transportation sector, our entertainment sector.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALESCI: Now, it's clear whoever wins in a few days here, they will need -- the next President will need to get a stimulus deal over the finish line through Congress. And right now, most economists I speak to say, there is a greater likelihood of that happening at a much larger scale if Joe Biden is elected with a democratically controlled Congress. Christi, Victor?

BLACKWELL: Christina, thank you. Let's bring it now. CNN Political Commentator and Republican Strategist Alice Stewart and Maria Cardona, also a CNN Political Commentator, but a Democratic Strategist, and they are the host of the podcast Hot Mics From Left to Right. Ladies, welcome.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor. MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Alice, let me start with you. And the big number 99,321, that is now a world record for single Coronavirus cases reported in a day, and there have been five us records in the last eight days. How does this president get up onto a stage in front of thousands of people and with a straight face say we're rounding the corner?

STEWART: Look, clearly the numbers are not going in the right direction. And we would love to see this take a dramatic turn, and there are concerns as we get into the winter months. But the good thing is that people are learning to use precautions, we're learning to wear masks, social distance, and I am encouraged by the words of the president that say that we do have a vaccine in the very near future, and that's very good news to hear.

And look, one death is too many, one case is too many, but the fact that we are putting a greater emphasis on taking the necessary precautions -- but it's important that we use these precautions, we social distance, we wear masks, but we also take every opportunity and every effort to safely and effectively reopen our schools, reopen our businesses, so we can get back to business as usual and life as usual, and really work to the degree that we can to get our economy even more back on track.

BLACKWELL: But Alice, wouldn't that be a more credible message if the president actually did any of that? I mean, if he actually enforced wearing a mask, or enforced social distancing, and didn't, you know, make fun of Laura Ingram when he saw her wearing a mask? Wouldn't those words mean something?

STEWART: Victor, I really do wish that he would talk the talk and walk the walk and wear masks more often. But look, none of these people have to go to these rallies. None of these people are forced to go. They go there because they want to see the president. They are asked and encouraged to wear masks. And it's their personal decision whether or not they want to do so. These are grown adults in almost every circumstance.

So, it's their decision as to what they want to do. And clearly, the President takes precautions in the degree that he can and staying away from people. And the best message is to heed the advice of our public health officials and use social distancing and wear masks as often as possible.

BLACKWELL: Maria?

CARDONA: Of course, that's not a credible message. I've always said that the President would be in a much better spot if he did listen to our friend Alice Stewart, but he doesn't. He doesn't not only listen to her, but he makes fun of Laura Ingram like you mentioned. He makes fun of the people who have lost loved ones. When he goes up to a rally and he starts going COVID, COVID, COVID like a lemon elementary schoolyard taunt. It is a stab in the heart of the families who have lost loved ones when we are at record high infections, record high deaths. Somebody is getting infected right now, Victor, every second, somebody

dies every two minutes, and this President still has not been able to admit that this is a huge problem. He wants to focus on the economy, but what he doesn't understand is it if he does not focus on getting the pandemic under control and crushing the virus, which is what Joe Biden will do, he's never going to be able to open the economy in a safe way. And that's what Americans are looking to their president to do.

[07:35:33]

BLACKWELL: Maria, let me stay with you and talk about Florida because there are plenty of strategist and activists and even elected officials, we've got Congresswoman Frederica Wilson there who is concerned in South Florida about soft numbers, soft voter turnout among Black voters, Latino voters. Are you worried three days out?

CARDONA: Of course, I'm worried, Victor. I've always been worried. It's the only way to be if you really want to win an election, especially an election when your own candidate has shown margins in battleground states and the national polls and the double digits. You know, that makes us feel good in terms of the overall trends of where this election is going, but we can never take anything for granted. 2016 taught us that very well.

So, yes, I'm absolutely worried. I know that the campaign is worried. And as such, they are doing everything they can between now and Election Day to get out every single voter to call them, to text them, to go to them. Joe Biden is holding rallies, but he's doing it in a safe way and putting the health and the wellbeing of his supporters, first and foremost.

And I think that where you're going to see in these last three days is that that closing message for Joe Biden is going to focus on getting out the vote, but also on making the contrast between what this President is focused on and what Joe Biden did.

BLACKWELL: But, Maria, you told me that after the convention, right, when we had a conversation about soft numbers with Hispanic and Latino voters, you told me that there are people don't know how to poll, Hispanic and Latino voters, and that as soon -- as soon as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have an opportunity to make that case, we will see those numbers, that gap close. And here we are now three days out, and it's the same narrative. Are they just not resonating.

CARDONA: Oh, no, no. But no, no, no -- but your question was different, Victor. The question of the polls, and we have seen the polls on Latino numbers really grow the way that I said they would after the convention. If you look at the polls from the pollsters who actually know how to poll Latinos, Joe Biden is on track to get Obama numbers, the ones that he got in 2012, which is what the campaign is going for. We are on track. Joe Biden is on track to getting that.

That doesn't mean that we should not be worried and making sure that we get out every single vote that we get between now and Election Day. BLACKWELL: OK. Alice, let me come to you now in Pennsylvania.

President Trump has four events there today. You know, the latest polls show that it's going to be a hike for him to win that state again, and maybe because of this specific group. Let's put up the full screen too, guys. Seniors' choice for president among 65 and older and Pennsylvania from a 10 point win in 2016 to an 11 point deficit. Explain what's happening here. Is this only the Coronavirus or do you expect there's more here?

STEWART: Certainly, it could be a lot of factors. Obviously, Joe Biden from a neighboring state is helpful for his numbers there. But you know, Trump did tremendous in 2016 because of winning these Rust Belt states, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Look, I think Pennsylvania has his best shot of those in terms of winning this time for a lot of reasons. He's campaigning there quite a bit recently. He will be there several times between now and Tuesday. But I believe his biggest argument in Pennsylvania is the back and forth that Joe Biden has on the fracking issue with regard to energy.

Fracking jobs are key in Pennsylvania. Thousands and thousands of people rely on money they make from the fracking jobs. And without a certain answer from Joe Biden on what he wants to do with the future in that industry, that's going to turn a lot of voters off of him and onto to Donald Trump. And his closing argument of opportunity and prosperity for Americans will really resonate and across the country.

BLACKWELL: That might be -- that might be a really strong argument, but I've watched the rally and I believe it's Waterford Township yesterday, and the President, instead of making that argument over and over again, he did this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Where is Hunter? There's Hunter right there. He's up by the truck. Look at him making a couple of bucks, Hunter. Hunter has done very well for an unemployed person, right, for years for years? For years unemployed, and then he hit payday when his father became vice president. And Joe had paid her too. That's part of the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:40:18]

BLACKWELL: Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, I mean, it was all over the place, any minute, especially in a state that he's trying to keep. How does that help him at all? He's not making the argument exclusively that you say that -- and many analysts say could be strong for him in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Michigan.

STEWART: One difference in the speech he gives, and Joe Biden gives is that the President talks for much, much longer. Ideally, he would get in there, stay on message and get out. But he tends to like to speak to the audience and rally the crowd. But since you brought up Hunter Biden, I think that's a valid story. It's a valid question when we know that Hunter Biden has strong financial ties with China and with foreign governments. It does raise the question.

It's not as much about Hunter Biden, it's about Joe Biden and whether or not if he were to be elected president, he would face tremendous financial leverage from foreign countries if he was sitting in the White House. These are valid questions that need to be answered --

BLACKWELL: And how many -- and how many patents and copyrights did Ivanka Trump get in the last four years?

CARDONA: What about the President?

BLACKWELL: I mean, it seems like there's like a little pot kettle glass house if I'm mixing metaphors and narrative. Let me -- let me -- I got to wrap it here. Maria Cardona, thank you very much. Alice Stewart, thank you very much.

CARDONA: Thank you, Victor.

STEWART: Thanks, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Three days. Christi?

CARDONA: Go vote.

STEWART: Go vote.

PAUL: Go vote. Listen to them. Go vote. All right, and still to come, talking about voting, the voting right fights playing out in battleground state. Courts is what we're looking at next with Laura Jarrett who explains to us how this affects your vote.

[07:45:00]

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BLACKWELL: Well, over the past few days, the Supreme Court has weighed in on a few cases that could have a significant impact on which ballots will be counted this election cycle.

PAUL: And in some of those instances, those decisions have seemed at face value contradictory.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Joining us now is CNN "EARLY START" anchor Laura Jarrett. Good morning to you. Break it down all of this for us. The emergency requests have been decided differently from state to state.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. Nice to see you guys this morning. So, if you want to look at this, the U.S. Supreme Court has been really busy this week with all these election-related issues. And they all seem to have to do with how the state should handle this influx of mail-in ballots that we're seeing across the country, of course, because of COVID. But the outcome for the voters in each case was really different.

So, let's take a look at what the court did this week, and then what it could mean for what happens next. So, on the one hand, you have Pennsylvania. It's a critical battleground state for both candidates, of course. And the state Supreme Court has said that absentee ballots there are valid even if they're received three days after the election on November 3rd.

Now, that case went up to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Justice has actually deadlocked for four. So, what that means is the State Supreme Court decision stands for now. We're going to come back to that. But also, you have bounced in North Carolina, and those can be received up to nine days after the election as long as they're postmarked by November 3rd. That was also a victory for the Democrats who wanted that.

But then you have voters in Wisconsin, and they get a very different result. The Justice is they're sided with the Republicans and they upheld a lower court decision that effectively means absentee ballots have to come in by Election Day on November 3rd to ensure that they're counted, or you can go vote in person, but you might not feel comfortable because of COVID.

And the same thing happens in Minnesota where a federal appeals court decides an extension of the deadline for mail-in ballots was likely unconstitutional. And so, now, absentee ballots also need to get in there by November 3rd as well. And we wondered if that was going to go up to the Supreme Court. And last night, the Secretary of State said there they aren't appealing this one to the court, at least not yet.

So, all of this may seem like a hot mess, but you actually do notice an important trend emerging here. If the case involves the U.S. Supreme Court reviewing a state court decision about state law, then the justices seemed more inclined to leave those alone, because the conservatives on the court say they don't like second-guessing state legislators. But it's a case where a federal court has stepped in to protect voters say by extending the deadlines here, and that goes against state law, then the justices, particularly the conservatives ones are much more likely to overrule it as an intrusion on the state lawmaking process.

PAUL: OK, so here's the question. What is the expectation of seeing some of these cases come back either on or after Tuesday?

JARRETT: Right. Well, this is this could get tricky. So, in Pennsylvania, the ballots that come in after 8:00 p.m. on November 3rd on Election Day and for the three days that follow, those are actually going to be segregated from the ones that arrive earlier because the parties are still in active litigation.

And this is why it's so important to see that the U.S. Supreme Court actually hasn't been taking these cases up on the merits. And what I mean by that is, they're not getting to the core constitutional issues. They're dealing with things like a motion to expedite so they can hear it faster.

But in cases where the margins are thin, say in Pennsylvania, you might see the Republicans run into court to make sure that those ballots that have been segregated after November 3rd, don't get tabulated. And the same issue can be in Minnesota, where again, the court has said things that come after election day have to get segregated.

And what you might see if these cases come up and even other states other than Pennsylvania or Minnesota, look to what Roberts does here, because the Chief Justice has signaled. Again, how the posture of the case comes up to them really matters and what happens in the courts below matters.

And the justices, particularly the conservative ones now, are going to be much more inclined to defer to state courts and state election boards if those are the ones that are stepping in. But if you see a federal judge, a lower federal judge stepping in, then the conservatives on the court are going to say they wrongly intervened, so watch out for that.

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PAUL: All right, Laura Jarrett, thank you so much for the background. I appreciate it. We'll be right back.

[07:55:00]

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PAUL: 55 minutes past the hour and oh, my gosh, 2020. I mean, it's been so messed up. It even seems like our perception of time feels different in parts of this year. So, it's only fitting, Victor, that rock band Tenacious D reworked the classic song Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Show to give it a 2020 treatment.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just a jump to left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just jump to the left.

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BLACK: So, there's a serious message to this though. The band is using the song to encourage people to vote on November 3rd. Susan Sarandon, you saw there, Elizabeth Warren as well, others, to rocky the votes and to vote for Democrats as they sing it here. It's time to jump to the left, not a step to the right.

PAUL: All right, stay with us. NEW DAY WEEKEND continues in a moment.

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